The Miracle Worker

“Thanks so much for shining your beautiful spirit into our lives at a time when the world seemed so harsh.”

--A letter to Donna Ebnit

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On this volunteer assignment to Orangewood Children’s Home, Donna Ebnit took along her 20-year-old son, Danny.

She watched her son decorate Christmas cookies with the kids and eavesdropped on the conversation, which turned to “What does your mom do?”

Danny detailed all the ways his mother helped the poor. And then a little girl excitedly says, “Oh, like Mother Teresa!”

“Oh, yeah,” Danny replied. “My mom’s like a Mother Teresa.”

Which is why the nonprofit Orange County Child Abuse Prevention Center has honored Donna Ebnit as its Religious Organization Volunteer of the Year.

Ebnit is one of the foot soldiers in the center’s innovative Adopt-A-Social-Worker program. The program harnesses the giving power of more than 80 local churches, synagogues, service clubs and youth groups and puts it at the fingertips of 88 “adopted” county social workers.

It’s popular enough to have 25 social workers on the adoption waiting list, while counties across the nation try to replicate its success.

“Adopt-A-Social-Worker is the easiest, most direct and inexpensive way to do outreach to people in need,” says Robin Hoffman, the program’s manager. “The social workers are our link to these families. They are out there on the front lines.”

The program’s success--more than 6,500 children were helped last year--is in its simplicity. The volunteers, people like Donna Ebnit, receive a wish list--diapers, food, clothing, furniture, laundry soap--from a social worker and then figure out a way to get it filled.

Oftentimes that involves prayer. “I get goose bumps sometimes,” says the 42-year-old Ebnit, a Garden Grove resident. “I won’t have an item, and then I pray about it and someone calls the next day with that exact item. Somebody always comes through. It’s like a miracle.”

If her prayer is being answered a little too slowly, Ebnit will get up in front of the congregation at her church of 30 years--the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Garden Grove--and ask.

“I’m not comfortable getting up front and asking for things,” says Ebnit, sitting at her tiny desk in the church’s warehouse space, surrounded by 10-foot-high stacks of donated clothes, furniture and food. “But when things get low, I do, and the need is supplied.”

Ask Ebnit how much time she spends volunteering and she’ll whisper conspiratorially, “I’m not sure I should tell you. My husband might find out.”

You can do the math. Ebnit serves as the volunteer community services leader at the church, where she feeds the poor, visits the elderly, helps teen mothers and teams up with Garden Grove firefighters to provide Thanksgiving turkeys and Christmas presents to disadvantaged kids.

“I can’t go home and enjoy my holidays until I can help as many people as I can enjoy their holidays,” Ebnit says.

And then there’s her work with the Adopt-A-Social-Worker program. Over the past year, Ebnit has adopted four social workers and--through pleading, praying and gentle arm-twisting--provided food, clothing, furniture and toys for 90 needy families, including 320 children.

“She’s a miracle worker for me,” says Angie Herrera, one of Ebnit’s adopted social workers. “She is really wonderful. I just hope she never tires.”

Ebnit usually runs out of money before she runs out of energy. She estimates it took just $4,100 in donations of goods to help 90 families. For some families, a box of cereal is a huge help.

“I could do so much more if there’s the money to do it,” Ebnit says.

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“Your assistance has helped our family get through one of the hardest years of our life.”

--A letter to Donna Ebnit

Ebnit seems to be plucked from another time. Her haircut and clothes are right out of the early ‘70s: “I’m still a love child,” she giggles.

And despite witnessing daily the horrible things that happen when, as she says, “the devil works overtime,” she has an innocence about her that seems even more old-fashioned. She says it comes from her childlike faith in God--which starts with a half-hour of devotions and prayer each morning.

“I like to start my day with a message from God and take time to listen to what he’s trying to tell me or lead me that day,” Ebnit says.

And the message Ebnit gets most mornings is that she’s been put on Earth to help people. “God’s given me a talent to do this,” she says simply.

At times, it’s not an easy job.

“It bothers me to see someone trying to get help who’s of working age who smells of alcohol and cigarettes,” Ebnit says. “They could use that money to feed themselves and not take it away from children and senior citizens.”

She’ll still help anyone who asks. “I leave it up to God to send me the people he wants me to help,” she says. But she finds her energy is better spent with her adopted social workers because their clients are working hard to dig themselves out of whatever hole they’re in.

Because confidentiality laws shield most of the families, Ebnit rarely gets to meet those she’s helped.

“We don’t know every single day who we’re touching and who we’re ministering to. Only God knows,” Ebnit says. “But people do come back and say, ‘Because of you, I came to God.’ And that’s the biggest reward of all. I believe in my heart that that’s the biggest mission on Earth.”

She works until midnight most nights, and even then has trouble sleeping. “It’s hard for me not to carry a lot of these families on my heart,” Ebnit says. “ . . . It’s hard for me to shut down. I want to do more.”

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“I would like to thank you so very much for all of your help. You’ll never be forgotten!”

--A letter to Donna Ebnit