A Day in the Life of Donna Halsband
Joe Douglas
– Jr. Copy Editor –
Christmas is the season of giving. Many parents and friends do everything in their power during this one time of the year to find the perfect gifts. For one staff member at STLCC-Meramec, her season of giving continues year-round. Except this Christmas, due to a debilitating intestinal disease that has her stranded at home.
For the last two Decembers, Donna Halsband, service learning coordinator at Meramec, has been confined to either a hospital bed or her bed at home.
Also, she has no health insurance. Hospital expenses leave her unable to afford some of the most basic necessities, such as food.
“…It’s really unethical,” Halsband said.
Halsband has been working 39 hours with no benefits for “a long time.” She is treated as a part-time professional staff and, due to what she says are political reasons within STLCC, has been unable to attain her full-time status.
“It took me a while to come to terms with it, but I realized the work was too important, and it’s what I love… I was going to keep on doing it no matter what,” Halsband said.
Halsband’s love for her work began approximately 20 years ago, when she worked at Humboldt Visual and Performing Arts Middle School. There, she taught art, and through it sought new ways to teach students reading and math. She found architecture.
“I had always realized that students really learned when they were doing something that was real and something that was involved with the community,” Halsband said.
Halsband said her most memorable project was in 1988, where her students worked with Washington University students in the renovation of First Street Forum, now The Forum for Contemporary Art. Her students made drawings of what they thought an art gallery should look like, and the WASHU students used their ideas to make working models.
“When the gallery opened, my students’ work was one of the parts of the exhibit, and it changed their lives,” Halsband said.
After working with St. Louis public schools for many years, she later found a position at Meramec in service learning. She spent her first years in the English department before being moved to the accounting department where she works now, leading community service projects both close to home and across the nation.
“I’m interested in taking students to other countries to do service,” Halsband said. “I’m also interested in taking students to the reservations and work with Native Americans.”
Last December, only her dog, Charlie, and her cat, Sophia, could keep her company during the bitter cold days, besides an occasional visit. Her only daughter, Megan Halsband Tesno, lives in Washington D.C. with her husband, and is unable to be there for her during these tough times. And when all connection to the outside world seemed lost, people began showing up more often, and with a little more than just gift cards.
“The English department created a food chain, and I had people, food and help here every day,” Halsband said. “It was pretty overwhelming and profound and in a way a hard lesson for me to learn to accept help.”
Unbeknownst to Halsband, a STLCC-Wildwood faculty member had been working with the Sisters of Loretto, a group of Christian women who dedicate their lives to working for peace and justice, to help her along.
“Every day there was something coming in my mail, and I’d get a bill, and then I’d get the money to take care of it, and it was the most interesting experience I’ve had in my life,” Halsband said. “My insurance was due, and then came money from the Sisters of Loretto.”
People sent her, and continue to send her cards and food, and some come by to help with yard work from time to time.
“Faculty really understand on a very deep level how unethical it is and they have continued to lobby on my behalf and then a year and a half ago when I got sick… people have just been amazing,” Halsband said.
Halsband will be returning to school after Christmas break. In the meantime, she has only one thing she wants from Santa.
“I just want to see my daughter,” Halsband said with a smile.
