Chris Sullivan claims she hasn’t done anything spectacular to promote a social issue and that she is just someone who works behind the scenes, but we all know that the ones who work behind the scenes are the ones that should receive a lot of credit and recognition.
Chris has been retired for four years now but still doesn’t have a lot of extra time on her hands. She volunteers at Norwich Elementary School in Hilliard and also with the Hilliard Food Pantry. At Norwich Elementary, Chris’ goal is to make the teachers’ jobs a little easier by doing their “busy” work. She has developed a system by which they can exchange their dull pencils with freshly sharpened ones and pre-cuts letters for them, mostly with paper she finds that can be re-used. Three years ago Chris started an end-of-the-year collection of school supplies that would otherwise have been thrown away. Anything that can be re-used is recycled into the school in an effort to defray costs to the parents at the beginning of the next school year. “Last summer, we were able to donate over 20 pounds of bulletin board paper to SON Ministries in Hilliard. We collected over 45 pounds of broken crayons that will be used in various art projects. During the first two years of collecting things, we got enough colored pencils so that none were ordered for this school year.” Chris and the school have now also begun a year-long recycling project so that certain used projects (glue sticks, pens, markers, etc.) will be returned to the manufacturers for cash. Three years ago, Chris also introduced a Halloween candy collection where the kids bring their unwanted or extra candy to school, which is then donated to various charities such as the Homeless Families Foundation, Choices, the United Methodist Children’s Home, and various nearby food pantries.
Working with the Hilliard Food Pantry, Chris stocks shelves, returns phone calls, and picks up over 250 pounds of produce from Mid-Ohio Food Bank each week. “As you grow older, you don’t want to look back on your life and wish you had been more generous with your time, talents, or kindness.”
Chris says that her hero in life is Ernie Banks. “He was an outstanding short stop and first baseman on a terminally losing team, but ALWAYS had a positive attitude and child-like hope that next year would be better.”
Chris’ doesn’t really have an ultimate life goal she says. “It would just be nice if I could figure out a way to get more people to volunteer their time and talents to help kids, whether educating them, feeding them, or providing for any other need.”