“The school is the last expenditure upon which America should be willing to economize.” –Franklin D. Roosevelt Muscled and blue-eyed with a manly smile, Gerritt Rogalski is what is commonly known as a hunk. On a recent visit to Orlando’s gay-ish restaurant Hamburger Mary’s where Gerritt works, I watched him charm gay boys, straight women, and I suspect a few straight guys who wondered why they couldn’t keep their eyes off Gerritt’s rear.
Brendan and I have shared a mutual crush for Gerritt since first seeing him working behind the counter at Orlando’s must-taste eatery Pom Pom’s Teahouse and Sandwicheria. Brendan will probably never let me live down the night I picked up an order at Pom’s after a grueling day at work and, in my fatigue, said something to Gerritt like “thanks, buddy,” then gave him a wink and made a little shooting gesture at him like a schoolgirl version of Malcolm McDowell in Blue Thunder. I calmly walked out with my “Lowrider” on rye and my tea of the day (iced and sweetened), leaned against the building, and died.
Now “it’s what’s on the inside that counts” may be on the top ten list of the great lies we will hear in our lifetime, but in this case it happens to be true because you’re about to learn that Gerritt has a heart of gold, in addition to being hot. As part of a class called Roles and Intervention in Social Work, Gerritt and his University of Central Florida classmates are collecting school supplies for less fortunate children in the Orange, Seminole, and Osceola counties.
A component of the “service learning” class is community service, so each semester Dr. Eileen Abel lets the class choose a project or charity to support. The class chose the School Matters back-to-school supply drive held by the Jewish Family Services of Greater Orlando.
“Early in the semester we had a guest speaker come in from JFS,” Gerritt says. “As a class we were so impressed with the mission and focus of JFS that we pretty much unanimously decided that we wanted to dedicate our efforts to the School Matters supply drive.”
For their part, Gerritt and his class will be putting together backpacks filled with needed supplies. If you’re part of the UCF community, you can find drop-off boxes across campus, otherwise visit the class’s Facebook page to find other locations. Consider offering your business as a drop-off point. You can also drop off supplies directly to Jewish Family Services at one of their three locations. The drive lasts until August 1.
Here’s list of the school supplies and personal care items.
new backpacks
binders (both hard bound and pocketed)
colored pencils and markers
erasers
glue sticks
highlighters
index cards
lunch boxes
paper (both college and wide ruled)
#2 pencils
pens
rulers
scissors
tape
hand sanitizer
combs and brushes
deodorant
individual sized Kleenex packs
toothbrushes and toothpaste
Interestingly, the class has found their most effective collecting from friends and family. “It seems that in the economic times we are in fundraising is more successful when we make use of our personal networks,” Gerritt observes. The students bring the supplies they gather to class each Tuesday.
Gerritt is majoring Social Work with a minor in Non-Profit Management and he’ll graduate next summer. “I’m trying to decide if I want to go on and get my Masters in Social Work or go to law school,” Gerritt tells me. “I’m trying to decide if I want to become a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and focus on individual therapy within the LGBT community or if I can make a bigger impact as an advocate and lawyer.”
If you have any questions or if you’d like to volunteer your business to help, you can reach Gerritt Rogalski at gerrittr@gmail.com. (I’m trusting you not to tell him about my crush, it’s a secret just between us, okay?)
