Kindness comes in many forms and with the COVID-19 pandemic still affecting the city, a Sedalia woman is hoping to relieve some stress by doing a good deed for frontline workers.
Josephine Sei, president of We Just Want to Be Treated Equal, has crocheted 200 small white ribbons that she is selling for 25 cents apiece at Little Caesars Pizza, 2125 W. Broadway Blvd. Sei, who is in a wheelchair and on oxygen due to COPD, said she partnered with Little Caesars and hopes to raise more than $500 to buy pizza for frontline workers.
On Thursday, she spoke with the Democrat at Little Caesars along with Valarie Ream, the vice president of the nonprofit.
Sei noted she began the project about two weeks ago and added it’s a “thank you back from all of us.” Sei has sold 50 of the ribbons on her own and has set up a donation bucket to the right of the cash register at Little Caesars along with a basket of ribbons.
“I talked to other people and told them ‘this is for a cause,’” she explained. “We need to be thankful for all the hard work they have done and are still doing.”
She is asking as people visit Little Caesars, to consider making a quarter donation for the project, take a ribbon and then wear it to show support. Initially, she’s hoping to raise $514 to purchase pizza for health care workers and plans to continue the project so she can buy pizza for the police and fire departments and caretakers.
“This will give them a little break,” she noted.
Sei said her organization, We Just Want to Be Treated Equal, helps “get people on their feet.”
“We give them furniture, I do advocacy,” she said. “We’re on Facebook and we do a lot of different stuff. I make blankets …”
Sei added during this stressful time she hopes people will “come together” and “work together.”
“That’s what we need to do,” she said. “We need to bring that back.”
Ream added everyone needs to be “united again.”
For more information about the white ribbon program or the nonprofit, We Just Want to Be Treated Equal, call 660-473-1244.
