Marilyn Thickett – Number 2 Sweet & Sassy Birthday Girl of the Day – April 24
Posted on April 24, 2007 in the Real Beauty category
Today is Marilyn’s Birthday. Marilyn is one of my long-time friends – 25 years. She, too, is sharing the Sweet and Sassy Birthday Girl of the Day (she IS generous) but she has so many beautiful qualities, she could be the Birthday Girl of the Month.
Here’s the link to a synopsis of my book – “Real Beauty” – for you to enjoy, I’m sure.
Marilyn is beautiful because she is….FAITHFUL and DEDICATED. I’ve never met another person who believes so much. And I don’t just mean about God. I mean about everything. She has faith that people will do the right thing. She has faith that people will fulfill their promises. She has faith that her white carpet will stay clean.
Marilyn runs The Association of Catholic Student Councils (TACSC – www.tacsc.org), a great non-profit that helps grow leaders, for 25 years – essentially by herself – with a very small budget. This is a national program inspiring and training young adults for 25 years – thousands of people have been touched by her. She’s been at the helm plugging along — believing there will be funding, enough awesome staff members, purposeful conferences and enough trail mix and t-shirts to make everyone happy. And it has.
And she’s not the kind of person who has faith and sits back waiting for everything to magically appear…she’s the essence of this quote:
“Have faith in God, but keep rowing to shore.”
Marilyn’s dedication to helping young people realize their potential is unfounded. I’ve never met anyone who believes more in the younger generation than she. She gives them important jobs to do, relies on them to be responsible, cheers them on while they are stumbling through adolescence and hugs them when they need it (I find that is often). No matter the outcome, she keeps believing and rowing.
I know this is true because I was one of those fumbling kids 25 years ago. I didn’t know about life. I didn’t have any confidence. I never even knew why Marilyn kept inviting me back to TACSC to be on staff. But she did, and over the last 25 years, my self-esteem grew and I collected more skills and leadership training than most people I’ve ever met at any company I worked. And then Marilyn had the crazy idea to hire me and work for TACSC. That was quite a ride. I’m privileged to be one of the few to spend so much time with her and I wouldn’t change those years at all.
She is a wealth of knowledge – it overflows and she is not stingy about sharing. She wants everyone to succeed. I work in corporate America – where I find most people do not want to help their neighbor – it’s every person for themself. Not Marilyn. She continues to share unselfishly – to help others.
Marilyn – I could go on and on – but I just want you to know (and my audience of 2) that I love you, admire you, aspire to be like you and toast you on your birthday. To many more lovely years – Huzzah!
Comments
3 Responses to “Marilyn Thickett – Number 2 Sweet & Sassy Birthday Girl of the Day – April 24”
Leave a Comment
Couldn’t have said it better myself. Marilyn is amazing.
Very nice, K. Let’s hang out soon.
[...] organisation called TACSC (The Association of Catholic Student Councils). Led by Marilyn Thickett (here’s Marilyn’s special tribute), I volunteered for many years (and worked for a few, [...]