Fotini Allteni/
I was born and raised in Communist Albania, it was very different from the life I’m living now . The communist regime was very strong and we were completely isolated from the outside world. We grew up very poor financially but I was fortunate to be raised in a loving and caring family. I remember at a very young age my brother and I had to stand in line at 5 am for milk and bread….which created an unbreakable bond to protect and support each other. I remember all the cousins getting together and making our own toys and sewing our own clothes, and we thought that was normal as we did not know better. Looking back at those days now I feel fortunate that I grew up valuing things that money can not buy like unconditional love, sharing, respect and caring. Because I was tall I was chosen by my school to play basketball and I became very good at it. This led me to representing the International Youth Basketball team in 1986 for the Greece Balkan Olympics. That was the first time I left Albania and I saw how different Greece was.
When I came back, I was full of anger— why should we have to live like this?
I remember my father, who was a teacher trying to calm me down and scare me. Because if I continued to talk like that our family would all end up prosecuted and in jail in the middle of no where.
Thanks to American influence we broke free from the communist system in 1991 – 1992 . And in 1996 the US Goverment opened the Green Card lottery for the Albanian citizens to apply and emigrate legally to the US. And being a lucky girl I won the lottery and emigrated to NJ June 13, 1997. I will never forget the amazing feeling walking through the emigration office in Newark airport. …even though I could not understand what the officers were saying to me because I did not speak much English only hi , bye and thank you ….my big smile made a difference. I want to take an moment and thank Sue and Vangjo Shoro for welcoming my family and me to their home. With their help i started my life in Elizabeth NJ AND TRINITAS WAS THE FIRST HOSPITAL that took care of my family and especially my 3 year old son when it was needed.
Education was the most important thing for me and as my Son Krist, now 8 years old and my daughter Britney was just born.I wanted to be able to enroll them the best schools. Asking my cousin Sue (as there were no IPhones at that time to google) –where are the best schools in NJ? She suggested Short Hills / Millburn so I started looking for apartments. –And coming from Albania with No credit history and no steady job,I was not having any luck finding any apartments until I met Helene Kosloski who was the landlord of the building where I had just applied to rent an apartment. To this day I remember going to meet her, in one hand holding my son and in the other hand my daughter Britney who was only a couple of months old . I explained to Helene Kosloski, with tears in my eyes, how important my kids’ education was to me. I was promising her that I would work 2-3 jobs to pay the rent . She looked at me and with her sweet voice, she told me “do not worry I will help you …..” Little did I know when Helene’s mom emigrated from Poland no one would rent them an apartment because she had 2 kids …… Helene told me this couple of years later….And that was how I was introduced to the Angel of my life, Helene Kosloski – I am and will be Forever grateful to my mentor and educator and great friend.When people ask me what school did I graduate from I say– Kosloski University. Helene was an amazing philanthropist and a great business woman. I am trying my best to continue her legacy and help our community.
When did the relationship with Trinitas start?
Trinitas is a very special hospital. It is an inner city hospital that helps underserved patients in many ways. helping to build a residential treatment center for girls who were victims of mental, physical and sexual abuse. now we fund programs for this center. The Kosloski foundations have also helped fund an upgrade to mri equipment so the patients can have full access to lifesaving diagnostic technology. The foundations have also funded programs at new point – this is trinitas’s psychiatric hospital. it has 98 beds and is the largest hospital based residential behavioral health facility in NJ. Then go into how honored you are to receive this award and thank whomever. I am humbled to be honored this evening by all of you. I receive this award on behalf of the Kosloski Family foundations and our amazing foundation team Susan Head, Leonard Selesner, Eoin Monahan, Britney and Krist Allteni. The true heros are the people who put into action all the good work that helps our communities. Many thanks to the great team of doctors and nurses at Trinitas Hospital and the staff that support them.