With all that the Humanitarian Service Project’s volunteers
are able to accomplish with their strength, determination, and brainpower, it
is no surprise that their children are quite talented as well. Today we learned
about one such child of a volunteer, who we just had to take the time to
congratulate on her accomplishments. Emily Ericksen, daughter of our volunteer
Secret Pal Coordinator Ginna Ericksen, placed second in her age group at the US
Eastern Nationals Gymnastic Competition this last weekend.
Emily, a 16 year old sophomore from Wheaton-Warrenville
South, qualified for the tournament by being one of the top six gymnasts in her
age group and region. Emily’s favorite event is uneven parallel bars, in which
she excels so much that Ginna calls her “queen of the bars.” However, in order
to place 2nd in her group, Emily had to be more than just “queen of
the bars,” but to excel at the vault, the beam, and the floor sections as well.
We wish to congratulate Emily for her accomplishment.
However, when we consider all that Emily’s mother Ginna does
while volunteering her time at HSP, it is no surprise to us that Emily is so talented.
Under Ginna’s watchful eye, our secret pal program stays organized and moving
forward. Thanks to her, the 120 needy senior citizens in our Senior Citizen
Project get the joy of receiving the gifts graciously donated by our Secret Pal
donors. She has even gotten Emily involved in the program as well! She has also
proven to be quite the athlete herself, finishing 2nd in her age
division representing HSP at the DuPage Human Race 5K run last month. We wish
to thank Ginna for all she has done for HSP. The strength and dedication she
has shown while helping HSP reach senior citizens in need, has very clearly
rubbed off on her children. 