Elaine Meyerson

Elaine Meyerson (left) and Anita L. Allen (http://www.northjersey.com/news/123001713_Elaine_Meyerson_honored_for_25_years_of_service.html (Stephanie Schwarts))

A hero should be someone who helps others, is a team leader, and is a role model. These characteristics describe Elaine Meyerson, my hero, perfectly. She is the director of Shelter Our Sisters (also known as S.O.S). Shelter Our Sisters is a battered women's shelter that opened in 1976. The purpose of the shelter is to keep the women and children safe from their husbands or fathers, who have abused them.  Elaine also has two kids, a son (twenty nine) and a daughter (twenty six). Her family is very involved with community service; they have dedicated their time to helping those less fortunate.

Elaine takes pleasure in helping others. When Elaine helps others, she feels great. Karl Reilan once said, "In about the same degree as you are helpful, you will be happy." She has a passion to help with community service. Elaine is the head administrator of S.O.S and has a great amount of enthusiasm for what she does. She loves to see the women and children at S.O.S happy and safe from domestic violence. Elaine makes sure the women will be entitled to a peaceful and independent life after they leave the shelter. When Elaine started working with S.O.S, her office was next to the living room where the women and children would hang out. She passed by them every time she went to her office. Shortly after starting, she moved out of the building where the women and children stayed and is now in the administrative building of S.O.S. She had been in that building for about 1 year before moving.

I believe that Elaine is a team leader. When she started, she used to be the assistant director and is now the director. She said when the opportunity of director came up, it was a chance to advance herself and her career. She loves having people help out at the shelter. She says, "It shows that people are very thoughtful if they give money or clothing or furniture, but it also shows that they really do care about domestic violence and the women, which is a huge deal to me because a lot of people don't care." Elaine works with the staff to implement the Steps To Recovery. The Steps To Recovery are broken down into 2 parts. The first step is calling in. The women would have to call into the shelter and explain their problem. The information they share is kept private in order to protect the caller. Sometimes, women don't need to come to the shelter; the shelter can help them plan their escape, like staying at a friend' house. The counselors can also teach them how to act in court, how to get a restraining order or possibly, sue the husband. If they come to S.O.S, they will work with counselors at the shelter who will talk about their problems with them. The counselors will also help the women get employment. Usually, the children who come with their mothers can be aggressive or quiet, depending on the environment they came from. Elaine has a huge responsibly handling that, but she is also very calm and collected. She said "Many times, the husband will find out where his wife is living and come knocking at the door, asking to speak with her. I or the staff will tell him to leave or we will call the police." 

One of the things I admire most about Elaine is that she is inspirational and a role model. She has empathy towards the residents at the shelter. She has seen very difficult situations and has had to face a lot of sadness. For example, a patient once went home after therapy and was killed by her husband. Elaine felt terribly decided to work even harder to make the shelter better and prevent that from happening ever again. She also admitted that it is very sad in the beginning to see the clients miserable or beaten up. Today, Elaine is working on raising money to buy a bus for the shelter to take the kids at S.O.S on more trips. She is looking to purchase a new building for the shelter. I believe that this is very thoughtful of her and makes her an inspiration to me.

Daniel Berrigan said, "Sometime in your life, hope that you might see one starved man, the look on his face when the bread finally arrives.  Hope that you might have baked it or bought or even kneaded it yourself.  For that look on his face, for your meeting his eyes across a piece of bread, you might be willing to lose a lot, or suffer a lot, or die a little, even." Elaine has helped so many women and their children through Shelter Our Sisters. Elaine's hero is her mother. Her mother is her hero because she worked in a time when women weren't allowed to work. She was very involved with community service, which inspired Elaine to help out with community service too. Elaine's mother's family traveled to the US from Russia when her mother was 10. She was very inspired that her mother was brave enough to work when women didn't and that she traveled to and lived in a different country when she was very young.  Students who observe Elaine will learn how much she does and how much there is to be done. They will also learn that she has to work with the board of directors, the government, and deal with mounds of paperwork. She has a huge responsibility that she has to handle. Elaine is a person who is going to make a difference in this world. Like Dr. Seuss once said, "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.  It's not." and as Edward Everett Hale once said "I am only one, but I am one.  I cannot do everything, but I can do something.  And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do." Those quotes explain Elaine Meyerson, my hero, perfectly.