Opinion - Columns - Bill Morem

Published: Thursday, Jul. 23, 2009

Bill Morem: Helping needy runs in this teen’s family

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To say 14-year-old Meghan Martin has healthy doses of compassion and humanity running through her veins is a vast understatement, if her recent actions to help the homeless using the Prado Day Center are any indication.

Meghan’s foray into philanthropy began when she and classmates at Old Mission School were tasked with carrying out a charitable activity. A family friend, Nancy Sugarman, a board member of Friends of Prado Day Center, suggested Meghan look into the needs of the day center.

Breakfast Buddies, a program that serves 80 to 90 meals at the center each morning, resonated with her and pretty soon she was a Buddy serving breakfast.

A reserved and normally quiet girl, she was soon greeting the homeless with a cheery “good morning,” says center spokesperson Marilyn Mayor. “She even planned menus and stayed up late to make special treats like dozens and dozens of cinnamon rolls,” she adds.

If her commitment ended there, it would be a fine exercise in kindness and concern, but Meghan kicked her philanthropy up a notch after talking with clients and staff and learning of other needs at the center.

“Meghan planned and organized her own fundraising campaign to buy blankets and sleeping bags,” explains Mayor. And then Meghan took her benevolence to yet another level.

After learning that the center’s refrigerator was in bad shape, needing more repairs and running up increasingly costly energy bills, Meghan researched what it would take to replace the appliance and then wrote a proposal to a foundation.

“Meghan’s case statement aligned with needs identified in a proposal submitted by Friends of Prado Day Center,” said Mayor, “and grant funds for a refrigerator were awarded this spring by the Florence MacFarlane Martin Memorial Foundation.”

The $1,500 grant covered about half the cost of a new commercial-grade refrigerator; the remaining money was raised through community donations.

Now, as it turns out, Florence MacFarlane Martin was Meghan’s grandmother, a woman who overcame personal tragedies to go on to a life of philanthropic work. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, it seems.

Indeed, compassion and humanity do run through Meghan Martin’s veins.

Facts about the Prado Day Center

• Staff and Breakfast Buddies have been able to treat clients to about three hot breakfasts (such as pancakes) per month. Usually it’s a “cold” breakfast of cereal, fruit, milk etc.

• With school out for summer, more children are coming to Prado with their parents or guardians.

• Total number of clients who visited Prado Day Center — to have access to any/all of the services offered — averaged 141 daily in June.

• The center is the “host site” for People’s Kitchen, which provides lunch for the clients. In June, they averaged 100 lunches per day.

• To donate or volunteer, contact Friends of Prado Day Center at P.O. Box 12444, San Luis Obispo, CA 93406, or call the center at 786-0617.

Bill Morem can be reached at bmorem@thetribunenews.com or at 781-7852.