For over three decades, Margot Hayward and baseball have fit together like a ball and glove. Soon after moving to Westport (CT) in 1967, the energetic volunteer became the first female umpire in Connecticut. She served Westport Little League for many years as chief umpire, brooking no nonsense but adding a tender touch to what to what can be a tough, thankless position.
Hayward’s contributions go far beyond the diamond. She has been a Norwalk Youth Symphony director; nowadays she co-chairs the Green’s Farms Congregational Church Stewardship Committee, and sits on the board of A Better Chance. In her spare time she golfs.
Margot Hayward throws herself into every community activity. But right now her soul is thousands of miles south of Westport, in Oaxaca, Mexico. Everyday she logs onto simplysmiles.org, and reads details of 80 orphans she has never met, a magic bus and a young man from upstate Connecticut.
The web site is dedicated to Casa Hogar, the only facility for hundreds of miles that accepts children with special needs. One of the orphans is Eufronia, a Mixteco Indian who is seven years old, looks like she is three, and functions at a six-month-old level. However, the web site says, “she is the happiest person you will ever meet.”
Another orphan is Elias. Meningitis and a tetanus infection destroyed two-thirds of his brain. At Casa Hogar, though, he is “the soul of the party.”
There are dozens of other youngsters like Eufronia and Elias – boys and girls suffering from blindness, malnutrition, cerebral palsy, polio, seizures, abuse and a thousand horrors- and they have captured Margot Hayward’s heart.
Her interest in Casa Hogar began a couple of years ago, the day she met Bryan Nurnberger. The 1995 graduate of Naugatuck High School had parked a big bus in front of Earth Animal, the Westport pet food store, and was soliciting donations. Nurnberger is no slouch himself – he has hiked the Appalachian Trail, lived with monks in Greece and worked in the sugar cane fields in the Dominican Republic – but not until 2002, when he stumbled upon the orphanage while driving through Mexico, did he find his life’s calling. The directors of Casa Hogar fed him, then asked if he could work there. They were that desperate for help.
Nurnberger spent several months at the orphanage, but soon realized it needed more than one young man’s physical presence. He decided to head back home to Connecticut – a world away from Mexico, in more ways than miles – and then return with material goods the orphanage desperately needed. He planned to buy a bus and fill it with the essentials the children lacked: clothes, soap, toothbrushes, you name it. He would even collect birthday cards. For many of the kids it would be the first time they received any of those things – even birthday cards.
Nurnberger inspired Hayward. “I’d donated money to Russia, but I never knew if it got there and was actually used,” she recalled. “When I met Bryan, talked to him and saw photos of the kids, I realized this was not about an organization; it was about people.”
Hayward leaped into action. She solicited local drug stores for donations of goods. She learned more from the web site. Soon she and her husband Bob were buttonholing everyone they knew, asking for help. Instead of giving holiday presents she donated money to Casa Hogar.
Several months ago, Nurnberger’s bus was filled. He drove south, ready to deliver the goods and hope to 80 orphans. However, he had not realized that the road to good intentions is paved with customs agents.
Mexican authorities stopped the bus at the border. There are regulations, it seems, about bringing donations into Mexico – or, rather, there are no regulations regarding American goods being driven south in a bus. So the authorities impounded the vehicle – with its several tons of desperately needed supplies – while they figure out what to do.
They conferred. They held meetings. They scratched their heads. And every once in awhile they came back to Nurnberger, and told him what he needed to do: Fill out this form. Describe these contents. Once, they even told him to list every ingredient that goes into toothpaste. The authorities were being very careful that no suspicious goods entered their country.
The process took a couple of months. Nurnberger recorded his adventure – or, more accurately, his lack of adventure – every day on his web site. Back in Westport Hayward logged on every day. If her support for his action could have translated into action, Nurnberger would have been on his way in an instant. Instead, all he – and Hayward – could do is wait. Once he finally got moving, more obstacle remained. There were bad roads, bad weather, even an earthquake. But Nurnberger persevered, and when he reached Oaxaca, the only person more delighted than Margot Hayward were he and his 80 orphans.
Nurnberger’s trip ended successfully. Though he remains in Mexico, working diligently at Casa Hogar, hayward’s journey has barely begun. She remains passionately committed to both the orphanage and the organization. Right now she is trying to interest local churches in the project, hoping to fire friends and neighbors with the same passion she feels. “I’m not some rich Westporter who can give a million dollars,” she said a days before Christmas, relishing the chance to talk about Casa Hogar while all around her, rich Westporter’s were busy buying holiday gifts. “I just watch the web site, and see what I can do. And every day I realize I can do something more.”
