The pajama game

Kate Schumacher
January 29, 2010
Filed under News

Attending a Catholic school provides multiple opportunities for donations towards those with less. BSM theology teacher Mr. Zach Zeckser and the Student Leadership group organized a donation for Children’s Hospital, the University of Minnesota Hospital, and other clinics, collecting pajamas for children unable to receive appropriate pajamas while at the hospitals.

Mr. Zeckser was more than happy to help out someone in need. “This is a drive to support a friend of the Benilde-St. Margaret’s community, called Sweet Dreams for Kids,” said Mr. Zeckser.

On January 30 at 3 p.m. the boys’ varsity basketball team played against Hopkins, and the theme for the fans was white out. The BSM students wore pajama bottoms and a white top and also had the option to bring a pair of pajamas to donate to the hospitals. “I was motivated to start this from just one phone call; one of the cool things about BSM is they always try to serve an authentic need,” said Mr. Zeckser.

The idea of collecting pajamas came from a BSM friend, Wendy Berezovfky. After working in hospitals, Berezovfky noticed the old pajamas kids wear and wanted to give them new ones in order for the kids to be dressed more appropriately while in hospitals. “Wendy came to us with the idea, the idea was [taken] from the heart, because a lot of the time, while at hospitals, kids are dressed in shabby clothes,” said Mr. Zeckser.

Although Wendy Berezovfky came to BSM with the idea of collecting pajamas, the Student Leadership group was in charge of thinking of a way to collect all of the pajamas in a more orderly, yet still fun manner. “Some kids wanted to do something that was more social and fun. Others wanted to go more the service route. We made a hybrid, I suppose, and mixed the social and fun with outreach,” said Mr. Zeckser.

Not only did BSM collect pajamas, but at half-time an activity took place in order to receive even more collections. “We had a $5 raffle, and those who were drawn participated in a shoot-out, those who won received a Chipotle gift card,” said Mr. Zeckser.

Mr. Zeckser was extremely ecstatic when this even took place. “On a scale of how excited I am, I am a ten. I can’t say why, because it’s a surprise BSM has never seen before,” said Mr. Zeckser.

*Website Mr. Zeckser gave me that people can go on to donate more: www.sweetdreamforkids.org