Oprah’s Big Give Inspires Geist Residents

Oprah Winfrey’s “Big Give” television show is inspiring people all over the country to help out those in need by paying forward good deeds. Inspired by others giving back, some Geist residents have started their own “Big Give” parties to help local charities.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.jumpcut.com/media/flash/jump.swf?id=530FFFD413B311DD9096000423CEF682&asset_type=clip&asset_id=530FFFD413B311DD9096000423CEF682&asset_url=/media/dyn/1d/c5d6/1aed1779eeb285f0116f7e1270/lq.flv&eb=1" width="408" height="324" wmode="transparent" /]“I wanted to do something for a local teen shelter called Restoring Lives West,” said Admirals Bay resident Marnie Cole. “We had about 30 people come over bearing gifts, money, and gift cards which we then gave to a good cause.”

One of the attendees to Cole’s party was neighbor Leslie Dickhaus. After talking with Cole, Dickhaus recruited her daughter Tracy Jennings and hosted another “Big Give” party at her house to benefit St. Elizebeth Coleman, a pregnancy and adoption center here in Indianapolis.

Jennings credits St. Elizabeth as an organization that helped her earlier in life; she knew right away which charity they would align with.

“It’s really easy, I just invited a bunch of my friends, co-workers, and neighbors over and told them what we were collecting donations for,” Jennings explained. “Most of the people came and brought gifts, others just sent a donation or cash.”

Bags and bags of baby items including car seats, strollers, clothes, diapers, pacifiers, and other non-perishable items were collected. St. Elizabeth Coleman’s Priscilla Kamrath was on-hand to personally thank the ladies in attendance and talk more about their mission.

“This is great, we really appreciate the donations and the support from our community,” said Kamrath.

“I just hope that we’ve started something that will continue here at Geist,” said Cole who hosted the first “Big Give” party with the idea that others would carry the tradition forward.