Story by Eva Dean Folkert and photo by Alan Babbitt
The shortstop and the point guard sat together in a DeVos Fieldhouse classroom and fidgeted. Out of uniform and out of their element, an unease swept over them, not because they lacked confidence or feared the circumstance.
They'd been in that classroom plenty of times before. No, discomfort arose when they were asked to talk about themselves and their good deeds. Humility, when young and sincere, has a way of tying up tongues.
Jenna Maury can fearlessly and without hesitation field a rocket deep in the shortstop's hole at Wolters Stadium for the Flying Dutch. Ask her, though, to divulge specifics on what deep inside caused her to create Buddy Bags Inc., a non-profit organization that helps feed hungry children in her hometown of Lawton, Michigan, and her words get a little bobbled by nervous laughter.
Ben Gardner's sneaky assists on the DeVos basketball court always wow a Hope College crowd and stun Flying Dutchmen opponents. But inquire about his assisting role in the origination and operation of Jesse G Clothing, a line of t-shirts and accessories whose profits benefit Ethiopian children, and Gardner's own disclosure about his attributes within the organization would hardly amaze. In fact, his personal revelations are as furtive as his behind-the-back passes, selflessly giving scoring credit to others.
Now, the two Hope seniors, while reticent to talk about their charitable acts, have found that others are willing to get the word out for them. This past spring, at the annual Hopey Awards ceremony – Hope Athletics' version of ESPYs, Gardner and Maury were each presented with the Karen Page Courage Award which honors beloved former Hope women's tennis coach Karen Page, who lost her brave, five-year battle with breast cancer in the summer of 2009, and recognizes student-athletes who walk in similar courageous footsteps.
This year, Page Award recipients Gardner and Maury proved that bravery can be also defined as conviction put into action, a daring adherence to the active golden rule that starts with a simple but important two-letter word: do.
Jesse G Clothing and Ben Gardner
A little boy from Ethiopia has an American clothing line named after him thanks to childhood friends from Carmel, Indiana.
Three-year-old Jesse Getiso Craig is the adopted son of Kathy Craig, a friend and Young Life mentor to Gardner and Riley Rapp. Craig's stories of her travels to Ethiopia and adoption of Jesse were the inspiration for Gardner and Rapp, along with another friend, Hannah Blachly, to start a clothing company that serves a greater purpose. Their tags declare their gear is Not Just for You.
"Jesse G Clothing started with our faith," says Gardner, who has visited Ethiopia. "Growing up we had a ton of positive influences in our lives, and we knew God said to love Him first and others second. We realized when we witnessed kids in Ethiopia who were struggling that it was an opportunity to further God's kingdom."
Creating t-shirts seemed like an accessible idea, a good fit, but the partners quickly learned that starting a small business was no tiny task. From design to production, to sales, to shipping, the company's logistical and financial responsibilities required literal heavy lifting. Gardner's commitment, though, was hefty, too.
"I've learned a lot from the mistakes we've made," says Gardner, an accounting major who would like to start his own business someday. "All of this experience, though, has lessons that will benefit me in the future."
For the first two years, the clothing line's proceeds gave tangible goods—food, clothing—to the orphanage where Jesse G first lived. Now, the company has partnered with Ethiopia Reads to build a library in the little boy's hometown. With a literacy rate at 39 percent and ranked 195th in the world, Ethiopians will now be given the opportunity to read due to the shirts on people's backs.
Click here to watch the HOPEYS video interview with Ben Gardner.
Jenna Maury and Buddy Bags Inc.
The striving of a 16-year-old to make a well-rooted impact on her community might seem audacious. What could a teenager—with limited resources and experience—truly do to change her world? For Maury, a sophomore in high school at the time, age would not define nor have any bearing on her resolve to make a difference. In fact, the exuberance of youth may have blinded her to all of the impediments that could have been in the way. She heard a call for help in church one Sunday, remembers squeezing her mother's hand in acknowledgment of that call, and determined then and there to be the one who would answer. The need was great, Maury felt, in a small Michigan town where a large part of the population struggled financially. She would be the one to do something.
So Maury started Buddy Bags Inc., packing children's backpacks with food items to send home on the weekends when subsidized or free lunch is not available. Enlisting the support of her parents and the Lawton High School Honor Society to get the organization started, Maury and Buddy Bags initially helped six families. Today, 30 families are the beneficiaries of her convictions.
"Overall in high school, it wasn't the cool thing to do (to start up Buddy Bags), but I didn't care," says Maury, a psychology major. "I just did it anyway."
The families who receive Buddy Bag aid are identified by school counselors and remain anonymous to Maury and other volunteers who then set out to get donations of packs and non-perishable food through local businesses and food banks. But it was an encounter with a friend at school one day whose family was receiving a Buddy Bag that solidified Maury's single-minded moxie.
"I mean, I had no idea," she says of her friend's revelation. "It really hit me. That moment I really gave myself fully to the Lord. I knew I'm here for more than me. I'm here for other people. I'm here to do His will and that (encounter) really set me straight."
Even while she is away at Hope, Maury, as president of Buddy Bags Inc., keeps close tabs on her creation's operations and progress. She has expanded its scope to a couple other local schools as well as sending food boxes home to families every two weeks in the summer. And when she can—between classes and studying and interning and playing softball at Hope—she returns to her hands-on, can-do role of stuffing bags.
"I'm one for the underdog," Maury concedes. "I want people to come through and shine. I just love that. And I love that little things can make a big impact."
Click here to watch the HOPEYS video interview with Jenna Maury.
