"Every once in a great while, seemingly out of nowhere, a very special person appears with the courage, conviction, and vision to change the destiny of others, to leave the world a better place than he found it. Such a person is Ned O'Gorman." "Born to privilege in Southport, Connecticut, Ned O'Gorman grew up in a house of light and flowers, a world of grand dinners, riding horses, sailing, and drinking. But his was also a family both peripatetic and increasingly dysfunctional, which led young Ned to take refuge in his private world and, later, poetry." "At loose ends, Ned wandered into Harlem one day, where the grinding poverty, hopelessness, and Dantesque apathy struck him like a bolt of lightning. Coming upon an abandoned storefront that day, he saw his future and his calling: he would open a tuition-free school which would welcome children of the mean streets, no matter how young. Without fanfare and on a ridiculously small budget, he furnished the storefront with donated chairs and tables, an Oriental rug, and a piano. Teachers and friend, impressed by his dedication, soon joined him in his shoestring endeavor. Daily, first a few, then steady streams of children were welcomed, taught music and art, love and self-esteem. Over the forty years he has been teaching in Harlem, thousands of children have passed through his two schools, many to move onward and upward into meaningful lives."--BOOK JACKET.