EIRI Staff Spread Christmas Cheer
Reprinted with permission of
Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services Magazine, Fall 2009
Each year for the past six years, staff and students affiliated with the Early Intervention Research Institute (EIRI) have participated in a heartwarming Christmas service project. The strictly voluntary activity is held before the Christmas holiday and exam week. Proceeds from the event help support the Vasidlule family that lives in Mungaung, a black township outside of Blomfontein, South Africa.
Housing in the township ranges from hovels made of tar paper and scrap wood to segregated areas of very nice homes, of which there are very few. Sanitation and clean water are a rarity. Violence accompanies the abject poverty in very significant ways. It is not a safe environment. Richard Roberts, director of EIRI, had to be escorted on his most recent visit—shootings, rape, theft, and murder are common.
Roberts describes the Vasidlule family as being “incredibly resilient, despite their circumstances, and with our help,” he explained, “they are able to educate their oldest son who will become the caretaker of the family when he gets a job.”
“The Christmas Event” is a hard core scrabble game between staff members Mary Ellen Heiner and Irene Welch. Staff and students who wish to participate in the voluntary Christmas gift to the family select one or both of the contestants to sponsor. It has become quite a rivalry between the two in a very friendly way. Staff may, if they wish, sign up to support either or both of the contestants, or if they prefer, may simply donate an amount of money.
Mary Ellen describes the scrabble contest in her own words.
“Irene and I began playing scrabble during our lunch breaks 15 years ago—nothing competitive, just something to pass the time and relax us for a few minutes. About ten years ago, just before Christmas, the Center for Persons with Disabilities (CPD) sent out flyers asking for donations for the Sub for Santa program in Cache Valley.
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“Although EIRI staff had given in past years, we decided to add a little ‘flare’ to Santa’s quest this particular year. We came up with the idea of having a contest between me and Irene to see who could get the most money. We thought about various ways to do it, but the most interesting and innovative one was to ask for pledges per points made in Scrabble.
“Here is how it works. You pledge money per point on your choice of contestant (Irene and/or Mary Ellen). For instance, if you pledge .05/point on Irene and she gets 325 points, your donation would be $16.25. Regardless of who actually had the most points, you would pay the amount of money based on whomever you pledged your money. The best thing about this is that there are no losers in this game—only winners.
“For several years we did this and earned close to $10,000 total for the Sub for Santa program. Then about five or six years ago, Richard Roberts became acquainted with a professor, Dap Louw, from Bloemfontein, SA (the University of the Orange-Free State). Professor Louw knew of a family who was really struggling financially—as most families are in Africa. They had little food and only a one-room metal shack in which grandparents, parents, and children lived. As a matter of fact, the oldest son had to live in a small shack behind the main house because there was not room for everyone.
“This family desperately needed help. Richard told us about this family at one of our EIRI staff meetings and we all agreed that this was what we wanted to do for our Scrabble game that year. We would call it ‘Scrabble-4-Africa.’ This lit a new spark of Christmas Spirit in each staff member and added an intense feeling of competition and excitement to our scrabble game.
“For weeks before the big event, Irene and I would ‘campaign’ for the cause. The first year we earned almost $1000 for our little family, which they used to put a floor in their home and purchase a stove. And the son, living in the shed in back actually got a bed! Each year the amount we raise has increased and each year we receive a letter from the family telling us what they have used the money for.
“This past year the money was used to enroll one of the children, Mzwandili, in an English high school and purchase school uniforms for winter and summer as well as stationary to do school work. Enrollment in this particular school has enabled Mzwandili to learn English—so essential for the future of the children in South Africa.
“It is heartwarming to both me and Irene to see that during times when people are worrying about where the next dollar is coming from and whether or not they will have a job next month, they still have compassion for others and are generous with all they have. We are excited to be a part of this event that brings out the Santa in all of us.” ~Mary Ellen Heiner
Epilogue
EIRI colleagues also recognize the need for financial assistance in their own back yard. Last year, Caitlan, the 18-month-old granddaughter of one of the staff members, was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor. The time demands of constant trips to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City required the mother to quit her job. Needless to say, the family began to struggle financially.
As a group (and unbeknown to this particular staff member—Irene!) EIRI colleagues decided that the money from the 2008 scrabble game would be divided between the family of Caitlan and their “adopted” family in Africa. Staff explained to Professor Louw in South Africa that the money for Christmas 2008 would be slightly less and they explained why.
EIRI staff and the extended staff at the CPD came through again. Mary Ellen and Irene were not only able to give even a little more to the Vasidlules, but were also able to give over $1000 to the local family. At the end of Scrabble 2008, EIRI staff gathered around Irene’s desk and presented her with a Christmas card stuffed with money. Irene did not know that she had been playing scrabble for her own granddaughter!
Of the surprise gift Irene said, “the generosity of the staff here at EIRI and CPD still astounds me. That donation was such a blessing to my son and his family.”
Both Richard Roberts and Dap Louw appreciate the amazing generosity of the EIRI and CPD staff and students.
“As a staff and institute,” stated Roberts, “we make a difference in lots of children’s and families’ lives but may never actually know the outcomes. Here is proof that we do make a difference. This event gives us all a feeling of the spirit of the holiday by helping others who are in much more extreme circumstances than most of us can imagine. "
“From my side,” said Professor Louw, “I can’t even begin to tell you what it means, especially to Mzwandili. He is in a new school and for the first time in his life he can afford to wear the prescribed school clothes like the other children. It is absolutely amazing what it has done for his self-image!”
This holiday, may we all practice the spirit of Christmas, in whatever large or small ways we are able.
~Melanie R. Scott Stein
