by Alyssa Saari
The Adopted Pirates of Whitworth was established by freshman Jian Rzeszewicz about a month ago in order to help foster children in Spokane and around the globe. Rzeszewicz is currently working with her secretary to contact about 20 local Spokane Children’s homes in order to work with them to set up volunteer opportunities, help host events, and provide donations.
Rzeszewicz’s intends to help local foster children, but she’s also determined to help fellow pirates who have been adopted. Her hopes for the future are that as more members join, they can begin to form a community, bond, and become a support system for one another.
“You can’t help others without first helping yourself,” Rzeszewicz said, explaining the importance of the support group.
“Most of the time being a foster kid is difficult,” Rzeszewicz’s said, speaking from personal experience.
Rzeszewicz was born in Zhan-Jiang, China and at just a few days old was left on the street where a police officer found her and brought her to the local orphanage. At five months old, she was adopted by Kim and Dan Rzeszewicz and she has lived in Puget Sound, WA ever since.
Before she was adopted, her name was Guojiantao and her adopted parents then named her Hannah and used her chinese name as a middle name. Rzeszewicz finds it important to stay in touch with her culture and has gone by Jian.
As an adopted child, she understands the mixed emotions one might feel; abandonment, confusion, hurt, etc. Rzeszewicz hopes to help children through these trying emotions and help them find their place within their own lives.
The club meets every other Thursday night at 7 p.m in Eric Johnson 233. If you have any further questions or need more info about the club you can reach Jian Rzeszewicz at hrzeszewicz18@my.whitworth.edu.