Stockings stuffed by volunteers with care
MERIDIAN — Kim Birckbichler's connections took her from her Meridian home to Nashville and back. They led her to enlist the help of 11 schools' staffs, church people, friends and family from Butler and Grove City.
Together, their efforts offered comfort, and perhaps a little joy, to Sue Bennitt and 189 other cancer patients.
A huge Martina McBride fan, Birckbichler traveled to Nashville with her mother, Karen Godot of Meridian, to hear the singer in concert. McBride sang her hit, “I'm Gonna Love You Through It,” which Birckbichler calls an “anthem” for cancer patients.
There, she was inspired by Taira Baughman, a cancer survivor she met who appears in McBride's music video for the song.
Remembering her father's experiences with chemotherapy, Birckbichler joined Baughman's group, Operation: We're Gonna Love Them Through It. The campaign collects Christmas stockings for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy treatments.
Birckbichler said she was reminded of cancer patients' plight each time she drove by the Butler Regional Cancer Center, Western Pennsylvania Hospital Outpatient Services, at the Benbrook Medical Center in Meridian.
“It is heartbreaking to see the cancer center parking lot on Benbrook Road full every day of the week,” Birckbichler wrote to potential donors.
On Dec. 19, Birckbichler delivered 190 Christmas stockings to the cancer center, one for each patient who arrives for chemotherapy treatment.
“We were appreciative of that,” said Michele Verri, RN, manager of the outpatient center that provides chemotherapy treatments to more than 150 patients.
“They (donors) even separated them into female, male and children's' stockings. We don't treat children here, but some of our patients have children.”
Chemotherapy infusions, taken while patients rest on recliners, last from 30 minutes to six hours, so it's helpful to offer gifts that keep a sense of normalcy in their lives, Verri said.
Pampering helps, too. The stockings hold products helpful to chemotherapy patients such as unscented lotion, lip balm, slipper socks, hats, scarves, sugarless candy, sugarless chewing gum, healthy snacks, puzzle books, inspirational books, playing cards, gasoline gift cards and music CDs.Sue Bennitt of Butler accepted one of the stockings when she arrived recently for a chemotherapy treatment, as she has since 2009.“I'm coming up on three years,” said Bennitt. “I'm a very lucky person that I'm not adversely affected by it like some people are.”This is Bennitt's fourth or fifth round of chemotherapy, she said. She receives a small dose weekly to keep up her health.“I think a lot of things in the stocking will be useful,” Bennitt said. “It was very heartwarming to receive one. ... It was very well thought out.”Birckbichler, a former teacher, didn't create all the stockings herself.In addition to family and friends, she asked Tim Sisinni, principal of Meridian Elementary School, if his staff would help.Sisinni went a step further. He recruited employees from all of the district's 11 elementary schools. The elementary staff members filled 96 stockings.Birckbichler's mother helped her, too.“We all know somebody (a cancer patient) who's been in our family or touched our lives in some way, Godot said. “Chemotherapy takes a lot of hours, and it's nonstop.”Her sister's Grove City Bible Study group filled about 20 stockings, and Godot's pastor was eager to help. Dr. David West and members of the Gateway Community Church in Center Township collected 87 more stockings.“We had a lot of joy in putting the stockings together,” Godot said.Birckbichler was “blown away” by everyone's generosity, she said. She hopes to collect even more stockings next year.
