Small Gifts, Big Impact
Dr. Mary Sarvis was a psychoanalyst who believed that small acts of generosity can make a big difference in a child’s life.
During the 1940s and 1950s, Dr. Sarvis worked as a psychotherapist and teacher to promote a holistic model of guidance and healing, in Oakland Public Schools, UC Berkeley’s School of Welfare, and a number of other associations and organizations in Northern California’s Bay Area.
Dr. Sarvis’ model draws attention to the small things: the seemingly insignificant needs of disadvantaged children that often go unmet. Her work emphasized the importance of these needs, calling them “the next useful step.”
The Mary Sarvis Memorial Fund works to further Dr. Sarvis’ legacy, by meeting the small needs of Bay Area children, and supporting the social workers, teachers, therapists, and youth counselors with funding for those things that make a difference. Small gifts that have a big impact.
Bus tickets, a dance class, eye glasses, summer camps, school supplies, a sewing machine…these things may not seem significant. But to a child or a family, these gifts can mean the difference between despair and hope.