How to lead with love in little places

As the Director of the Little Macs Preschool, Liz Gullotti continues to embrace the Breathing Room’s roots in Jenkintown. “So many of our teachers remember Diane. I remember when she passed, and the influence she had in our community,” Liz shared. “It’s easy to get our teachers and staff and the families excited about supporting the Breathing Room, because they all remember where it came from. And now we see the women who work there and make such an impact every day – they do the greatest work ever.”

Getting to hear how many people remember Diane and have grown up with the Breathing Room is a joy. The continued support from the next generation of Jenkintown families is an even greater cause for joy. The Little Macs Preschool has supported BRF for ten years, starting with hands-on activities like making cards and Valentine Bags, or doing a donation collection, and visiting the office when the BRF office was just across the parking lot from the school.

Now, they’ve stepped it up to be a top-two contender for biggest fundraising team at the Valley Road Run the past two years, by engaging their preschool community and creating their own event, the Little Macs Dash.

“With little kids, it’s easy for them to understand why we’re supporting the Breathing Room,” Liz explains. “We tell them that we’re helping people feel better when they’re sick, so it’s simple enough for them to understand. Similarly, we simplified the Valley Road Run race down to a dash. It’s hard for our little guys to “run” the whole race and not easy to be pushed in a stroller – this way they are active in our fundraising efforts and get to participate in a short Dash race at school.”

And ‘active’ might be an understatement. Each classroom fundraises, competing for a pizza party or ice cream party – but with the effort they (and their families) put into it, you would think the prize is a million dollars. “We’ve had such an an increase in interest from year one to year two, with families really wanting to help us make an impact,” Liz said. “This year, one classroom alone raised over $2,500.”

“Breathing Room is the primary philanthropy we support, and we only hear positive things from the families and parents of our kids,” she shared. “Our engagement continues to grow. We hear about connections all the time, whether it’s teachers who used to bartend at the Celebration of Life and now volunteer at new events, or families who know someone the Breathing Room has supported. We are so excited to get to continue to engage our students in something they can understand, something that is so meaningful to the community, and something that they enjoy.”

We are so grateful to the Little Macs for their decade+ of support, and their innovative fundraising for our BRF families. Liz’s generosity of spirit in planning an event to engage even the littlest supporters has been so successful – thank you for inculcating a spirit of philanthropy in our next generation!