Students at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, are helping to raise money for Marietta Jackson, a beloved dining hall cashier at the school who is currently battling cancer. For 15 years, Jackson has been greeting people and cleaning up at the school’s Hubbell Dining Hall. She knows nearly all the names of the young men and women who come through the hall and she’s become their “mom away from home.”
Like many of the Drake students whose lives she’s touched, Chris Davis says Jackson is an amazing woman. “She is always so kind,” he says. “She takes care of us and always makes you feel special.” And former Draker staffer Keesha Ward recalls how she used to love seeing Jackson every day, saying, “To have that level of warmth and comfort and joy come from this one little body is something that I feel everybody looks forward to.”
So when Jackson started missing work to receive treatment for stage III ovarian cancer, students like Drake women’s basketball player Maggie Bair noticed and wanted to help Jackson. Bair decided to help by starting a crowdfund to pay some of Jackson’s medical expenses that insurance won’t cover. In less than a week, the crowdfund has blown way past the original $15,000 goal, raising over $28,000 and Jackson says she feels blessed for all the attention and support. “I feel surrounded with love,” she says. “Thank you so much. I don't even know how to say thank you. Thank you.”
Source: KCCI