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Heritage Sunday 20030126
INSIDE
Ryan's Friends celebrates
five years
By Jennifer Mitchell, Heritage Newspapers
In dealing with the death of her son, Evelyn Kosowski has
found a way to keep his memory alive and help people at the same time.
In 1997, Kosowski, with friends Diane Pool and Tom Clark,
started Ryan’s Friends, a charity organization to honor her son, Ryan Sergent.
The organization has grown steadily ever since.
That year, Sergent was a Flat Rock High School senior when he
collapsed and died during practice with the Flat Rock cross country team.
Ryan’s Friends started as Pool’s attempt to help Kosowski
deal with her grief.
But in five years, it’s grown into an effort that embraces
several communities to help people in need.
As 2002 came to a close, Ryan’s Friends celebrated its
fifth and, Kosowski said, most successful year.
Pool, president of the Woodhaven-Brownstown Board of
Education, said the idea came to her while she was working as a volunteer in
Detroit soup kitchens.
She knew the soup kitchens needed fresh fruit and that
Kosowski needed something to occupy her thoughts.
She suggested to Kosowski that they collect "an apple
for Ryan" on the anniversary of his birthday and distribute the fruit to
soup kitchens in need.
Pool said she knew that day would be hard on Kosowski, who
had lost her husband two years earlier.
She said she thought it would be a way to get through the
grief.
"I totally give her all the praise for what she did, all
the healing that went on," Kosowski said. "Those kinds of friendships
are there for a reason."
Since 1998, the Flat Rock Ram Boosters and Ryan’s Friends
have held the Run for Ryan, an eight-kilometer run that benefits Flat Rock
Community Schools’ athletics.
Ryan’s Friends also holds an annual coat drive and a food
drive to benefit area soup kitchens.
Even the Kiwanis Club of Woodhaven is involved.
"The growth is phenomenal," said Paul Elsey,
principal of Woodhaven’s Bates Elementary School and secretary of the Kiwanis
Club of Woodhaven.
From Southgate to Woodhaven to Riverview, schools, businesses
and individuals are helping out.
The Kiwanians, in addition to donating money, use their bus
to deliver the goods to shelters.
Parents and kids from Bates help with donations and spend
time sorting food and clothing.
And Tom Clark, a chiropractor and Kosowski family friend,
found eight Downriver chiropractors willing to give free exams, X-rays and
adjustments in return for a $10 food donation to the organization.
"More and more people are recognizing the name,"
Clark said of the group’s growing success. "When they see ‘Ryan’s
Friends,’ they know what it is."
Kosowski said, for her, it’s a way to honor the memory of
her son while carrying on the good he did when he was alive.
Kiwanis and Ryan’s Friends often each pay half for
community needs, like emergency car repairs, rent and bills.
"Our goal is to make Ryan’s Friends an organization
where it’s undercover," Kosowski said. "We want people to know about
it, but we want to do it where people don’t know we’ve done it.
"You’re helping people, but they really don’t know
where the money came from."
Kosowski said the group is looking into filing for nonprofit
status and she’s hoping this year will be more successful than the last.
For more information about Ryan’s Friends, visit www.heritage.com/ryansfriends.
Contact Jennifer Mitchell at jmitchell@heritage.com
or at 1-734-728-3306.
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