12/21/2012
“TOGETHER FOR OTHERS” CAMPAIGN 2012
For over 25 years, the Christmas season begins with “The Together For Others Campaign”, as the Saint Mary’s Club of Washington, DC, comes together to assist a local family in need. For the past few years, our friends at Providence Hospital have joined us in this effort, and this year, they have brought an extraordinary woman to our attention.
All of us know a woman like Terry… a busy mother of 3, who never thought that her life could be changed in the blink of an eye. She has a loving husband and held a job as a part time physical education instructor. She is also a co- founder of the Southern Maryland Chapter of “Newborns in Need”, and in her basement, she and five friends assemble layettes for weekly distribution to the nurseries of local hospitals, including Providence.
Last January, her life changed forever. Her husband, Kyle, slipped and fell in the bathroom, and was left paralyzed from the neck down. Despite months of physical therapy, he will spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
This tragedy has placed incredible challenges into the life of this family. Terry struggles to care not only for her husband, but for her children as well… a junior in college, a junior in high school, and their son, who is a child with special needs. Through this difficult year, Terry has missed only one month of delivering the layettes, refusing to give up on the newborns about whom she is so passionate.
Recently, Kyle returned to work. He uses a pen to press on the computer keyboard he must use everyday. Terry rises at 5am in order to drive him to work in the family van, which has been converted to accommodate his wheelchair, and then hurries home to get the children to school. There is no time to rest, money is scarce…and Christmas is just around the corner.
When we asked her what she wanted for Christmas, Terry told us this… her dream is to convert her ground floor bathroom to accommodate Kyle and his wheelchair. She needs to widen the door and install a shower that is handicapped accessible. Right now, Terry must give Kyle a sponge bath everyday. She is completely exhausted at night, and her children put her husband to bed.
This is a situation that so many women face… as sole caregiver and breadwinner, wife, mother, personal driver, housekeeper and friend. There is so much to manage everyday and then there are newborn babies who cannot be forgotten. The Saint Mary’s Club can help make Terry’s life a little bit easier. Together, we can help her improve her home, and in doing so, we can help her improve her life.
It’s a simple request…from a wife who wants only to restore dignity in her husband’s life. It’s a basic human need that we all take for granted. Terry asked for nothing else...not gifts, clothes, or food. Just a bathroom.
Won’t you please consider a donation to help this family? If you care to contribute, please send your check, made payable to the Saint Mary’s Club of Washington, DC, and mail it to Beth Veihmeyer ‘77 (Telephone: 301-299-0189), Together for Others Campaign, at 8607 Nutmeg Court, Potomac, Maryland 20854. Please mail your check as soon as possible, and make sure to include your email address!
Thank you so very much. The “Together For Others Campaign” is successful every year because Saint Mary’s women care. It is chance to share the true spirit of what it means to be a Saint Mary’s graduate…and help another woman in the process.
