Imagine as a child arriving at school with nothing; no pencils, no crayons, no paper. It would be very embarrassing and heartbreaking. Miriam Ruth Bowers Abbott has set out to change that and make sure all students are prepared to succeed and take opportunities when they arise. Three years ago, Miriam and a friend founded So We All Thrive or SWAT. She works through the Columbus Council of PTA’s to provide and distribute school supplies to high-poverty schools in the Columbus City Schools. Would you believe that glue-sticks are the number 1 item in demand? “Most schools are flush with supplies in August, but then everyone forgets about them, and by December, you have classrooms with no pencils or crayons. The parents can’t supply their children with the resources they need for learning. So, SWAT works with donors and funnels supply donations during those lean times.”
Besides volunteering with SWAT, Miriam stays very active with work and other “side-gigs.” Miriam is an assistant professor at Mount Carmel College of Nursing where she teaches both ethics and composition courses. She is also the Academic Department Leader for Humanities there and serves as the leader of the humanities faculty. On the side, Miriam is a writer for Columbus Underground and teaches a few courses at other local colleges. “Work give life meaning, right?” All this, and she has a very supporting husband and 3 sons. Balancing it all? “No one would ever call me balanced. I’m fantastically imbalanced!”
If you ask Miriam what obstacles she has encountered in life and work she will tell you that she has never acknowledged obstacles. “I don’t give them that much reality. I block them and move forward like a freight train…. or a steamroller. You’re either the paver or the pavement, right?”
Miriam has a big support system in her family, colleagues, and friends. The biggest surprise for her this year was the help from social media friends that she didn’t know well at all! “There was a tremendous number of supply requests from classrooms in December. Those needs would have gone unmet, had it not been for the outreach from this crew. They were game-changers: every request was met.”
Miriam hopes one day to have a world where kids don’t have to fight so many battles, where they can clearly see opportunities. “Kids are truly innocents. It’s not their fault they don’t have school supplies, or if they can’t get to school on time. It will take more than me to make that happen.” She will continue to keep her head down and work connecting needs with resources, and keep doing that as long as there are needs and as long as there are resources.
Miriam’s advice to everyone would be, “don’t listen to what people say, watch what they do.” And she is giving that advice right now to you. To learn more about SWAT, please visit www.swathelp.org.