by Caroline Gabsewics
Staff Writer
For a woman who has kept to herself most of her life, putting together an auction to raise money for the American Heart Association is a big step. It has involved getting out and meeting people, talking to strangers and — perhaps most difficult — asking them for money.
However, all this meeting and greeting has had a great side affect.
For the first time in her life, Jannis Shattuck feels like she is a part of something.
A housekeeper at 11E. and The Carling, Shattuck decided to participate in the Sept. 9 Heart Walk, which starts and ends in Metro Park. But she also made a pledge to raise money for the Heart Association.
To raise the money Shattuck held a bake sale at the two Vestcor properties. While they were successful, it just wasn’t enough.
Shattuck, with the help of Russell Kinser, manager of The Carling, will be holding a live and silent auction from 5-7 p.m. Sept. 1 on The Carling’s second floor.
“I am very excited about this,” she said. “I have never been more open in my life.”
But organizing this auction isn’t all that Shattuck is nervous about. She was struck with multiple sclerosis seven years ago, spent three years in a wheelchair and is now walking with braces on her legs. Doing the Heart Walk has become a physical challenge.
“I wanted to see if I could do it (the Heart Walk) or not,” she said. “I am nervous, because three miles is long in braces from your hips to your shoes.”
Shattuck says she has her bad days dealing with the disease, but she is hoping this experience of walking in the Heart Walk and organizing the auctions will change her outlook on life.
“This has given me the motivation to be a part of something,” said Shattuck, who is hoping to raise $1,500, but Kinser is aiming for closer to $3,000.
“This is going to be a really nice event and we are doing it to help people,” he said. “Jannis has been working very hard with this to make it something big.”
Kinser said residents at both The Carling and 11E. have donated items to be auctioned. But Shattuck said she wanted to “step out of the box” and has gone into the Downtown community to find more donations.
“It’s unbelievable trying to bring Downtown together,” said Shattuck. “Businesses and residents have been very gracious to us.”
Shattuck said when she decided to contact businesses, the first organization she pursued was the Jacksonville Jaguars. It worked. Shattuck was given a couple of items with the team’s autographs on them. Shattuck, who commutes daily from Daytona Beach, also took time to type letters to area businesses asking them if they wanted to donate something to the auctions. That worked, too.
Adventure Landing, the Jacksonville Barracudas, The Landing, the Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art, Downtown restaurants and others all responded with items that include tickets to games and events and gift certificates.
“It’s amazing how one thing can turn into something this big,” said Kinser. “But it was a lot of effort on her (Shattuck’s) part to come forth and put this together.”
Shattuck said Kinser has been a very big help in organizing the auctions.
“I am just a housekeeper who thought of this,” she said. “I would come to him and say ‘What about this’ and he would do what needed to get done.”
Kinser added that organizing the auctions was a team effort to help raise money for the American Heart Association.
“We want everyone to feel welcome here and we are opening our doors to hopefully get outside people in here for this event,” he said.
Shattuck said organizing this event shows that anyone can open up and try something new.
“I’m a housekeeper and if I can do it, anybody can,” she said.
Shattuck explained she wears many hats while she is at work. She helps carry groceries for residents, cleans the buildings, waters residents’ plants when they are on vacation and several other things.
“I still found time to put this together and do something that I really believe in,” she said. “I am doing this for a good cause.”
Besides holding the auctions to raise money, her personal goal is to walk the three miles during the Heart Walk.
“I am ready to conquer my own fears,” she said. “I know I won’t be first to cross the finish line, but if I can do that, I will have accomplished my goal.”
Kinser said he’s very proud of Shattuck and she has come a long way since she started working at the apartment buildings just four months ago.
“She doesn’t stop until she succeeds,” he said. “She does the best at what she does.”