University of Dallas News

Issue date: 11/25/08 Section: News

The Lovely Little Ladies do much more than win chili cook-offs and wear pink shirts around campus. The members of this club go into the community to make what difference they can for a few hours in the lives of girls who have been hospitalized.
"The purpose is to take college-aged girls to hospitals in the Dallas/Fort Worth area to spend quality time with girls who are sick," said club president Dani Schumer, a junior theology/pre-med major. The club does this by "having slumber parties or spa parties to help [the younger girls] boost their self esteem."
This semester, the club put on two events at the Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth. On Sept. 26, the first event brought 12 girls from the University of Dallas to the hospital to throw a party for oncology patients between the ages of five and 13. The girls made tiaras, painted nails, played games and had a fashion show with dress-up clothes, Schumer said. "We just had a fun time, spending quality time making them feel beautiful."
On Nov. 14, the Lovely Little Ladies put on a spa party with older girls (13-21) who have suffered brain injuries. Thanks to donations from cosmetics companies BeautiControl and Mary Kay, each girl attending the party left with a spa bag, an herb-filled neck wrap, and a make-up kit.
Schumer said MaryElise Zellmer originally started Lovely Little Ladies as a Student Government Committee in 2006. When Zellmer transferred out of UD, "she personally asked me to take it over," Schumer said.
Schumer decided to make the organization an official club so that anyone who wanted to get involved could do so. University policy mandates that clubs receive $100 of funding in their initial semester.
The need to buy supplies such as games and dress-up clothing, which can be reused, and food and drink for each event made fundraising an essential activity for the Lovely Little Ladies. In addition to entering the chili cook-off at Battle of the Bands, which garnered $200 for the club, Lovely Little Ladies has participated in this year's Thank-a-thon and has put ads in the bulletin at the Church of the Incarnation. Funds from the Student Foundation and the donations from BeautiControl and Mary Kay have also helped to off-set the cost of holding these events.
The club has about 50 members, but the structure of participation is different from a conventional club. "We only get to take between 10 and 20 girls to each event," said Schumer, because any more would be overwhelming to the younger girls.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools