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Keeping our children warm

Photo by Kevin Pauly

"What motivates me to continue this effort year after year is simple: A donation of a single item can positively impact the life of a child. It isn't often that our outreach efforts can have such an immediate and profound impact. A small thing — one pair of mittens — is all it takes to make a difference in the life of a child," says Sally Doyle of Marquette's College of Business Administration.

During the Inauguration of Rev. Scott R. Pilarz, S.J., as Marquette president, the campus community was invited to renew its commitment to service in betterment of our world. The Call to Service asks Marquette family members to sign the pledge indicating a commitment to give service hours in the year ahead. Nearly 800 Marquette employees, alumni, students and friends have already signed the pledge. Sally Doyle, director of academic business affairs in the College of Business Administration, shared her motivation for the Call to Service in this story, which originally appeared in Marquette Matters, the faculty-staff newsletter.

I've been doing this since 2007 and to be honest, I wasn't sure I wanted to continue the effort. When I attended Father Pilarz's Inauguration, however, and he gave the call for service, I knew this was something that I had to continue. The children need it!

I became involved with the Allen-Field Elementary School when a friend witnessed a boy walking to school on a cold December day in 2007. His coat was worn and not nearly warm enough for the cold outdoor temperature, so his mother had a towel wrapped around him. I was incredibly touched by this story (to this day, I can hardly tell it without tears), so I decided to focus my personal efforts on making hats, scarves and mittens for children who attend this school.

I became acquainted with Ms. Meg Kitzke Strasser, a third grade teacher at Allen-Field. She graciously accepted my offer to make warm items for the children, indicating that "every single day, she finds children who do not have the proper clothing to be outdoors in winter."

I collect items that others make all year, knowing that another winter will come, and the children will again need warm things. I shop clearance and rummage sales. I collect the unclaimed lost-and-found winter items from the COBA at the end of winter. I take the items home and wash them, and then save them for winter. I knit and crochet when I have time.

Last November I had some additional donations, and a friend dropped them off at Allen-Field. As she waited for Meg, a boy came into the office and asked the assistant if there were any hats left. My friend called me in tears. It was a sign to both of us that we were doing God's will.

This winter, the holiday drive for the COBA and Graduate School of Management will be for hats, scarves and mittens for the children at Allen-Field. To donate, send items to 101 Straz Hall.