In 2012 Joan Arnay Halperin for­mer NYC-ESL teacher learned that Aris­tides de Sousa Mendes saved her par­ents’ lives. She now ded­i­cates her ener­gies to the Sousa Mendes Foun­da­tion as Direc­tor of Edu­ca­tion­al Ini­tia­tives (and babysit­ting the grand­kids). Her sec­ond book is a mem­oir about rec­on­cil­ing her par­ents’ old-world val­ues with a 1950’s teenager’s need to ​“fit in”.