Donn Marshall could not find a parking space at the Ashburn Library on Aug. 11 the day after the library opened, though he was the impetus behind that day's events.
More than 350 children turned out for an afternoon and an evening children’s story hour, Magic with Tom Lilly. "It was a huge hit," said Marshall, who brought the foundation’s programming to Loudoun in late January. "I’m really pleased with how it’s gone so far. … It’s been a model of success."
The attendance was over capacity for the event funded through the Shelley A. Marshall Foundation, which Marshall founded in memory of his wife after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack. She died in the Pentagon where she was employed, leaving behind Marshall and their two children, Drake, 5, and Chandler, 3.
So far, the foundation has provided six to seven story hours at the county’s public libraries and two tea parties in the Heritage Hall Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Leesburg that brought together Loudoun County High School students and the residents in a social occasion.
THE FOUNDATION provides similar programs in Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland, funding activities related to Shelley’s interests, which include reading to her children, creative writing and tea. This past summer, the foundation held an artist workshop series for high school students to attend three day-long workshops with professional artists and to exhibit and sell their work. Three Loudoun County High School students attended the workshops with seven other juniors and seniors from Virginia and West Virginia.
"I wanted them to have a taste of what being a professional artist is like," Marshall said.
The notion of taste will continue with Tea Across America, an event the foundation organized in 22 states, the United Kingdom and Russia. Private citizens will host tea parties for seniors in more than 35 nursing homes on Sept. 13 or Sept. 14. He avoided planning the event on Sept. 11, so citizens can remember the victims of the terrorist attack in the ways they choose, Marshall said. One of the tea parties will be held at Heritage Hall.
"One of the reasons I’m doing this, I didn’t want Bin Laden to have the last word on Shelley’s life," Marshall said. "We can’t all be hunting terrorists."
MARSHALL FINDS that providing goodness in other’s lives and awakening their creativity and passion is another way to combat terrorism. He founded the foundation on Sept. 15 when a grief counselor told him four words that changed the direction of his life: "Give your sorrow meaning." Days later, he established the foundation and placed Shelley's retirement savings and well-wishers' donations in a trust to fund activities that mirror her interests. So far, the foundation has sponsored 45 children's story hours at public libraries, endowed 12 creative writing contests at colleges and high schools and hosted 15 tea parties at five nursing homes.
"All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. I don’t think there’s any good act too insignificant," said Marshall, who plans to move to Shepherdstown, W. Va. next week. He grew up in Morgantown, W. Va. and started foundation activities there and in Vienna, where Shelley was born and raised. "Every time we do something positive, that’s a blow against Bin Laden. Fight where you can. Doing nothing means we’re going to lose."
Marshall’s mother Phyllis Marshall agreed. "We want to bring good into people’s lives to replace the evil we’ve seen, and that’s the whole purpose of all the projects we’re doing to replace that evil, so Shelley’s children can see the smiles we bring by doing good," said the Morgantown, W.Va. resident.