The Super Colossal Backpack Zealot

When Allen and Trish suggested I speak to Suzie Kelly about her role in the backpack project, I said, “Okie dokey,” but I didn’t know what to expect. A lot of people fill backpacks at this time of year. It’s sort of backpack season, you might say. But, for Suzie Kelly, every season is backpack season! This year, she is filling a whopping 800 backpacks!

Suzie was inspired to take her backpack involvement to the Super Colossal Backpack Zealot level one Sunday when she sat on a  back row of her church with her grandchildren. She sat at the back because her grandchildren are young and sometimes cry, requiring her to step out with them. But, from her vantage point, she could see pictures of all of the unsponsored children involved with Sowers4Pastors. She looked at her grandchildren who had so much. She looked back at the faces of Honduran children who had nothing. And she decided to do something.

The Barbie Doll Ministry

Last year, Suzie committed herself to what might possibly be one of the world’s first Barbie doll ministries. She discovered she could often find secondhand Barbies for a dollar and she set about purchasing the dolls and giving them makeovers. In what may be the most startling bit of news I’ve learned all week, Susie shared that you can run a Barbie through the washing machine to get it clean!

She doesn’t just clean them. She also combs out knotted hair and gives Barbie a new lease on life. She even provides wardrobe changes. When she finds affordable Barbie fashions, she will snatch them up. But she sews most of Barbie’s new dresses, herself. Previously, she purchased clothing from a woman selling on eBay. When that woman retired, Suzie carefully tore apart one of the dresses and used it as a pattern for her own Barbie line of clothing. Each doll is sent off with the clothing it is wearing, plus two other outfits!

Last year, Suzie packed a few backpacks. But she provided almost 1200 Barbie dolls! She’s a Barbie doll purist and does not use the more cheaply made dollar store variety. Why? She says you can’t do a thing with their hair! The woman could write a book on restoring ratty Barbie hair to its former glory!

Beyond Barbie

Baby dolls, baby bottles, handmade doll blankets, new and refurbished games, soccer balls, toy cars, dominoes, and sidewalk chalk also make their way into backpacks by Suzie. She is tireless about finding a bargain. The woman can tell you the best source for just about every toy! She’s currently “working with a guy in China to see what shipping would be for a big order of soccer balls.”

A System

Suzie divides the backpack supplies into four categories: Boys more than 9-yrs-old, Boys less than 10-yrs-old, Girls more than 9-yrs-old, and Girls less than 10-yrs-old. She even learned to write the information in Spanish to be sure each child receives a bag filled with appropriate items.

She fills separate baggies with the appropriate school supplies, hygiene items, toys, games, etc… Suzie cares about having everything just so. She wants Barbie’s clothes to be beautiful, her hair to be silky, the girls’ hair items to be good quality, the socks to fit, and even the notebooks to be the most attractive notebooks available. Her daughter helps her when she is visiting from medical school, but, by and large, Suzie is the one getting everything perfect for the kids to receive backpacks that have been lovingly filled.

Space, the Final Frontier

Without hesitation, Susie declared finding enough space to be her biggest challenge. She attends what she calls a “pretty good size church”, but it’s full. Her problem isn’t filling the backpacks; it’s storing them! She’ll be talking to Allen about the future of her involvement and hopes he’ll have some answers in regards to space. After all, he is dealing with a Super Colossal Backpack Zealot!

- posted by Christi