MEINIG FAMILY CORNELL NATIONAL SCHOLARS
EXCELLENCE IN LEADERSHIP AWARD
Dana Diament
HALO
In the past two years, I have come to admire a family whose generosity embodies the ideal set forth by the Jewish faith. Coming from a background of limited means, I started asking myself how I too can give back to those less fortunate than me. I knew, however, that as a college student financing almost all of her college education, giving back would not be as simple as donating money to a charitable organization. With some advice from my father, I realized that in the same way that this family used their hands to make the money with which they are so generous, I, too, could use my hands to make something that other families would need. I started the year in an active search to get my hands on something, and in mid September, I jumped at an opportunity to lead a new project with a group I joined in the spring of my freshman year, Help A Life Organization (HALO).
HALO, which was started in the Fall of 2001, is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that seeks to help communities better care for their babies by donating neonatal equipment and other critical material needs through student leadership and volunteerism. In their second year of existence, these motivated student leaders and humanitarians wanted to develop the second part of their mission: donating critical material needs through student leadership and volunteerism. The president, Keisuke Nakagawa, had an idea to provide babies with a first layer of protection—clothing—which developed into a project that would give college students the experience of helping newborns by making baby clothes with their own hands regardless of their background experience in sewing. With a passion for challenge and innovation, I became one of the leaders of “Make & Give Baby Clothes Drive,” HALO’s newest, visionary project. In short, the leaders of the project were to use $1500 in funding and grants from SAFC, Dean of Students, and the Community Partnership Board to design and run a project to make baby clothes for donation.
In the fall semester, two other students and I immersed ourselves into the research and design of this project. Our first decision was to focus the project on donations to benefit our own community, Ithaca. We met with two professors in the textile department to talk about fabric and clothing design; we researched companies that would possibly donate sewing machines and fabric in the event that HALO incorporated in the fall semester; and we contacted Cayuga Medical Center and Babies First of Ithaca to find out how we could donate and distribute the clothes. When Babies First of Ithaca told us they could use up to 100 pieces of clothing, we knew there was a definite need for our services! By the end of the semester, not only did we purchase all the necessary materials and find a place for donation, but also I learned how to make two different outfits—one for a newborn baby and one for a premature baby—on a sewing machine. Our prototypes were successful, and we were ready to put the project in the hands of the volunteers.
During the spring semester, another leader and I coordinated 4 hours of sewing sessions every weekend, at which anywhere from three to ten volunteers would attend. During our weekly sewing sessions, I taught HALO members how to trace the patterns and cut out the fabric correctly and how to use the serger and sewing machine to make the clothes. The role of teacher required a lot of patience and optimism as many of the members had no prior experience and everyone made mistakes. I often felt discouraged when I was having technical difficulties and attendance was low. But in the end, everyone found an aspect that he or she felt comfortable with, and the machines worked again. Our enthusiasm for this project led us to share it with the rest of the Cornell community; in April, we held a public sewing session at Willard Straight Hall where thirty people spent five minutes to several hours making baby clothes or teddy bears. By the work of our hands, we will have donated seventy-seven newborn and preemie outfits and twenty teddy bears by the end of the semester.
Although I spent most of my time with HALO as leader of Make & Give, I also helped with fundraising efforts through our annual benefit concert, HALOfest, and collaborations with other groups. We raised over two thousand dollars that will go towards neonatal equipment donation at Cayuga Medical Center and an international hospital. I also worked on our project to incorporate as a non-profit, which we are very close to attaining. Last, but not least, I will be starting a new project this summer called Baby Smarts in which we will put together a network of mothers, organizations, and services for mothers who just gave birth to use when they need help. I am grateful to HALO for I have really found a way to give not only to newborn babies and their communities but also to college students in the form of friendship, leadership, and volunteer opportunities. Next year, serving as the vice president of HALO, I will continue all existing and new projects in the same spirit that allowed me to come this far. With our own hands, we can make a difference.
