Florida Catholic | Dolls To Vie For Attention Of Florida’s Legislators

LINDA REEVES | FC

“These dolls make a visual statement. They will help make these representatives know there are problems,” said Joanne Springer, president of the Palm Beach Diocesan Council of Catholic Women.

Dolls to vie for attention of Florida’s legislators

Palm Beach and Orlando Councils of Catholic Women are making and dressing cardboard dolls complete with real–life messages to remind legislators of children’s needs.

LINDA REEVES | FLORIDA CATHOLIC PALM BEACH BUREAU EDITOR

Published: 03.07.08

VERO BEACH | Joanne Slater shared the heartbreaking story of her “little one”:

“He tries to be cheerful because he is in a horrible situation,” she told the Florida Catholic.

“His dad drinks too much and goes into horrible rages, and sometimes beats the boy.

“His dad picks on his mom and his sisters. This boy tries to stick up for them.

“He is trying very hard, and he prays every day that God will send someone to look after him and his family and possibly take his dad away for help.”

Slater’s little boy has no name. She created him from cardboard and dressed him in toddler’s clothing to give Florida lawmakers a tangible reminder of the thousands of children in the state suffering from abuse and troubled homes. She and other Council of Catholic Women members from at least two dioceses are making similar dolls to represent all of Florida’s children in need — the abused, neglected, disabled, uninsured, immigrants — and will take them to Tallahassee March 11 as part of a three-day annual event, Catholic Days at the Capitol.

The Orlando Diocesan Council of Catholic Women invited Councils of Catholic Women from all over the state this year to create dolls as part of a “Children of Florida” campaign. The annual campaign originated in the Orlando Diocese in the late 1990s, but was discontinued about five years ago. It’s back in time for this year’s regular session of the Florida Legislature, and the handmade, toddler-size paper dolls with yarn hair, painted faces and big eyes will accompany the council women to the capital.

LINDA REEVES | FC
Council women, from left to right) Joanne Pennington, Joanne Slater, Kathleen Muller and Lorraine Rego draw, paint and design the dolls as part of a diocesan-wide council organization project.

“In October, our president, Peggy Middleton, invited all council women to participate,” said Orlando council member Virginia Smith. “We are hoping to inspire others so it will grow. We see a need for it.”

At this writing, the Diocese of Palm Beach Council of Catholic Women is the only other council group joining the Orlando efforts.

“We will distribute (the dolls) to representatives and senators representing our diocese,” said Kathleen Muller of St. Helen Parish in Vero Beach, who is helping coordinate the Diocese of Palm Beach efforts. “We have 16 dolls at this point.”

According to participants, the purpose of the dolls is to bring awareness to the issues and the needs of children in Florida.

“These dolls make a visual statement. They will help make these representatives know there are problems,” said Joanne Springer, president of the Palm Beach Diocesan Council of Catholic Women.

One man is participating in the Palm Beach doll effort.

“My husband, George, is making our dolls,” said Muller.

George Muller carefully cuts the 18-inch-by-34-inch dolls from thick cardboard and patterns the figures after a design featured on the Orlando Diocesan Council of Catholic Women Web site, http://home.catholicweb.com/odccw/. The site contains instructions on cutting, decorating and clothing the paper youngsters to bring them to life.

“We want the dolls to represent all the children of Florida,” said Smith, who has collected about 50 dolls so far from Orlando women. The dolls represent different cultures, backgrounds and situations.

“I haven’t made mine yet,” said Lorraine Rego of St. Helen in Vero. “We are going to dress them and give them stories.”

The dolls are fully clad. Pinned to each one is a story: a life situation, a cry for help.

“The stories are about the needs of the children in our society,” said Muller. “The needs are growing. The children are in need of adoption. They are abused. They are neglected. They are homeless. They need medical care. The dolls will remind these legislators.”

HISTORY OF PROJECT

The doll project being revived this year is patterned after a project implemented in the Orlando area by the Children’s Services Council, a Bartow-based nonprofit agency.

Smith said the idea was presented to the Diocesan Council of Catholic Women by Ellen Bachman, who learned of the agency’s doll project and thought it might be ideal for the council women to pursue their own. Bachman lived in the Orlando Diocese at the time and later moved to the Diocese of Palm Beach.

She is immediate past president of the National Council of Catholic Women.

“We had the project for a number of years, but it faded out,” said Muller.

According to Smith, the women first showcased the dolls in Tallahassee in 1998 and took everyone by surprise, making news headlines.

“About 60 of us set the dolls up in seats at the House of Representatives. We were able to get in, but I don’t remember how,” Smith said.

The vacant rooms and buildings in Tallahassee are kept under tight security, but the council women carrying “babies” managed to clear security and set the stage with their cardboard youngsters.

“They told us later that we shouldn’t have set them up, but we didn’t know,” Smith said. “We put the dolls in every seat. It looked like real children. It was impressive.”

The next year, security kept a close eye on the baby-toting women.

“We stood outside in the hallways. That was when Jeb Bush was governor,” said Smith.

The women lined the hall near the main entrance of the House, so all who entered the room passed near the ladies holding their handmade children with stories attached.

“It was just as great as the year before,” said Smith. “Jeb Bush stopped and talked. He was nice. Someone gave him a doll as he went into the elevator.”

The doll project was discontinued because it was becoming familiar and losing its impact. “We felt they (the dolls) had run their course,” Smith said.

This year, the women felt a need to bring the paper babies back to lobby with them at the Capitol.

“We are hoping to get more publicity this year,” said Smith. “Florida’s children have many needs.”

Return to Diocese of Palm Beach Front Page

Dolls to vie for attention of Florida’s legislators

Other Stories