Jessica's Story

 
 
“Can A Dusty Blue Coat Change the World?”
 
It changed my world. I grew up very poor in the rolling Appalachian foothills of rural Kentucky. With no running water until I was almost a teenager, I knew I was poor. We had a coalhouse, an outhouse, and a chicken house. If we didn’t grow it, we didn’t eat it. My parents averaged about $6,000/year – I know because I did their taxes. They did not have a high school education. In fact, as high school students, my sister and I helped both of our parents get their GEDs.
 
In the 6th grade, the local Rotary Club gathered a busload of poor, grubby kids for an outing to Kmart. The clerks had pulled all the warm coats to the front entrance so we wouldn’t muck up the rest of the store. With permission, I timidly tried on and longed for the nearly-to-the-floor-on-me, dusty blue coat with at least a dozen buttons. When it was purchased on my behalf and was at last mine, I breathed a sigh of relief and hope.
 
My father, who truly suffered from alcoholism, schizophrenia, and depression, had painted the world an evil place. Some days, I was terrified to step out our front door. With that warm coat, I discovered warmth in humanity. Genuine and caring people wanted to see a snot-nosed, backward coal miner’s daughter warm!
 
Much more than just a piece of clothing against the cold, I am ever so grateful for that gift almost 30 years ago and all that it meant. And that is why I joined Rotary International. I love being part of Perrysburg, now marketing one of the most prestigious and technologically advanced senior living communities in Ohio, St. Clare Commons. I love having the opportunity to bless others with what I was given: hope, caring, dignity, and humanity.
 
-- Jessica Derkis: Director of Marketing, St. Clare Commons, a Franciscan Living Community. Perrysburg Rotarian Since 2013.