Feb 13, 2008 7:52 pm US/Pacific
Sending Warmth to Troops at War
Jefferson Award Winner: Brenda Knight
(CBS 5)
Brenda Knight is the epitome of positive energy. Each year, she hosts a Ladies in Red luncheon, a gathering for the group she started twelve years ago.
"The Ladies in Red is a women's empowerment group that provides motivation, education, and inspiration for self-improvement," Brenda explains.
About four hundred women attend each year. Brenda says it's her way of giving them and herself, a "time out" from all they do as mothers, wives, and hard workers. She and two of her friends spend hundreds of hours planning the day.
"She's always giving to people," says friend Dora Smith. "She gives and she gives, even so much so that sometimes I'll say, 'I think you need to pull back a little,' and she'll say, 'No, I think this is the way to go.'"
When Brenda brings all of the women together each year, they definitely have some fun. But she also uses the power of the Ladies in Red to get a lot of things done. Most recently, she got her Ladies to spread the word about the need for beanie caps for the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Brenda's son Harvey is one of them. On a call home to his mother, he told her how cold it was in Afghanistan.
Brenda says, "He said, 'Mom, I have never been so cold!' I said, "Oh my God, baby, what can I do for you?' And he said, "We need some beanie caps because our heads are cold.'"
Brenda put the word out to her Ladies in Red and before long, thousands of caps were pouring in. And Brenda is still getting phone calls. As always, she went beyond her own needs to include many others. In early February, she shipped a thousand caps to both Afghanistan and Iraq.
"I think about how cold he is over there and he's not coming home until April 2009, so this little beanie cap is something I can send over to him and I'll know that it's helping to keep him warm," Brenda says.
Angela Smith has also felt Brenda's warmth. She received one of her scholarships, set up specifically for women who want to go back to school in later life. It's called a Walk in My Shoes Scholarship.
Brenda says, "This is part of my Ladies in Red, encouraging women to return back to school and they used to always say, 'Oh, I don't have enough time. I can't do it.' and I say, "What? Well then you need to walk in my shoes!" I went back to school. I graduated at age 50!"
"I'm an advocate for education, but I didn't get my degree," Angela adds. "So now I do have a degree and I'm working on my master's. A PhD may be in the works one day."
Brenda says that is her reward, knowing she has helped make one more person's life better.
For all she does to inspire and support others and for sending love and warmth to the troops Afghanistan and Iraq, this week's Jefferson Award in the Bay Area goes to Brenda Knight.
For more information on the Beanie Cap Campaign, call 707-319-4773.
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