When people think of a hero, most think of men or women of great stature. Heroes are usually individuals that people in society see on television and know of their great accomplishments. Often the people who cannot be seen on T-shirts and on television are the real heroes, much like Starkville’s Ida Mae Tate. Tate is a lifelong Starkville resident, and for most of that time she has devoted Christmas to making sure sick children can also enjoy her favorite holiday.
Tate, 75 years old and just over 5 feet tall, began her annual pilgrimage to Jackson’s Children’s Hospital nearly 20 years ago, when her 11-year-old son was diagnosed with colon cancer..
Tate’s son, whom she did not wish to name, was taken to the Children’s Hospital in Jackson, where his cancer was treated for three months. There he underwent several operations and chemotherapy treatments. Her son was eventually cured, but while he was there, Tate found her new passion.
“When I went down there, I began to realize how many children were in need of some attention and love, which some of the children did not have,” Tate said.
So Tate decided to make a difference in the children’s lives, and the way she did this is unique and unusual. Tate began by collecting cans around the Mississippi State University campus and around the Starkville area.
“You would be surprised at all the cans the fraternities waste,” Tate said. “I would often go to a fraternity house on a weekend and ask them if I could go in and pick up all their cans, and they would let me in many times. They would just ask me to be quiet because the members had a long night before hand.”
After the first year of collecting cans and exchanging them for money, she began her annual trip to Jackson around Christmas. Even without an automobile, Tate found a way.
Tate said for the first eight years she relied on the kindness of strangers to get to the hospital. She said when a friend was unable to drive her, she would find an alternate ride, including hitchhiking. Tate said she is lucky to have her good friend Jorja Turnipseed, who has made her pilgrimage easy by driving her every year.
Tate said her trips vary from year-to-year, based on the time she is able to take off from her job as a housekeeper and the time that her escort can take-off. But that has not stopped her from working hard and looking forward to her trip.
“For every $10 I earn working, I make sure to put $3 aside for the kids,” Tate said. “There are about 105 children there every year, and they each get five presents.”
Tate said the only thing she needs money for is “enough to live on,” the rest she said goes to the children.
When she was in Jackson last year visiting the children, her apartment burned down, but, this in no way seems to have discouraged Tate.
“I don’t look back on yesterday, and I don’t look into the future,” Tate said. “I focus on today. Something bad may have happened to me, but bad things happen to us all-I just keep moving on. I can’t let minor things hold me back from what’s most important and living the short life I am given.”
Tate lives every day to make sure the sick children she visits every year will be able to gain her perspective on life.
“These kids can’t take anything for granted,” Tate said. “We take things for granted because we have them. I don’t need a car because I am able to get things done without one.”
Tate said she enjoys her life with the children. She said she appreciates being alive and being able to give life back to the children she said needs love too.