From left: Linda Seifried, Committee Chair; Scott Frantz, Help Center staff member; Nikki Forrior, Impact Services Manager of the Help Center; and Alice Kirby, Contributing Member.
Submitted by Assunta Anzalone-Deliman M.Ed.
Poet Maya Angelou once said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Delta Kappa Gamma, Alpha Nu, is always on the lookout for ways to make a difference. DKG is composed of distinguished women educators in Bucks County who support community initiatives and encourage the growth of young women in education.
One of the many ways chapter Alpha Nu reaches out to make a person feel recognized and supported begins in the diaper phase of life: the Book and Blankie project.
Retired teachers, Linda Seifried, the chair of the committee, and contributing member, Alice Kirby, embody the words of Maya Angelou. Their dedication to the Book and Blankie literacy initiative is exceptional and spans a decade of commitment.
Alpha Nu meets four times a year, but works twelve months a year to support the community.
At chapter meetings, one will see women carrying bags of homemade newborn hats, blankets, and bags of parent and children’s books. Gift bags are brought in by the dozens, ready to be encircled by reams of multicolored tissue paper.
The book and blankie project gifts new mothers with a homemade baby blanket, matching hat, and a book for mother and child. Alpha Nu seeks to convey the importance of reading at an early age and to support a child’s bright future. The baby book provides the foundation of a baby’s library of learning. The parent book provides helpful information on literacy milestones and includes a popular nursery rhyme for a mom to read to her newborn.
Once the materials are gathered, the work begins. Members unite to bundle and package the special gifts. In coordination with local agencies, Linda and Alice determine whose clients will benefit from this community outreach and what is needed.
The following is a list of Alpha Nu’s community partnerships supported by the Books and Blankie project:
- ChoiceOne, located in Levittown, receives and distributes gift bags at both its PA and NJ locations. Spanish books are included for Hispanic clients.
- The Help Center, located in Bristol, gladly receives the Book and Blankie gift bags. The Help Center represents the United Way, the Bucks County Community Council (BCCC), and St. Mary’s Hospital.
- Alpha Nu also delivers gift bags to the Fiaria Project, an organization which provides “placement kits” to local foster agencies in Bucks County, Montgomery County, and the Philadelphia area. Newborns transitioning to a foster family are recipients of the thoughtful gift.
- Americans for Native Americans, a group that seeks to meet the immediate needs of Native Americans, is included in this special mission. The Doylestown location accepts gift bags for the Navajo, Hopi and Zuni families who reside in Northwest New Mexico.
- The babybureau is an organization that creates a “baby bundle” of needed items for underserved and at-risk babies in Bucks and Montgomery counties. It includes Alpha Nu’s Books and Blankie gift items in its bundles of clothing and other essentials to those in need.
Alpha Nu member, Margie Buzogany, has made over one hundred blankets and hat sets over her decade of contributing to Alpha Nu’s charitable project. The handmade sets shadow the colors of the rainbow. Margie’s purpose to dedicate her time and energy in crocheting is simply because she “enjoys making people happy.”
Maya Angelou’s words are not just relevant today, they are needed to be heard and felt in our society. This is a time when dissention is at an all-time high. It is a time when eye contact is replaced by the view of the top of one’s head looking down at a cell phone. Therefore, showing random acts of kindness can be a challenge. Alpha Nu’s Book and Blankie project is a step in a positive direction.
Take a bow, Linda and Alice. You represent the quiet heroes among us.
For more information about Delta Kappa Gamma, Alpha Nu, visit dkgpaalphanu.weebly.com/