The Blooming Grove Inn in Ewing Township held a three-day fundraising event to help support the costs of adopting a child for Elizabeth Rzasa, Assistant to the Dean for Business Technology and Professional Studies at MCCC. The event ran from April 9 to 11, the main event being a dinner on the 10th where a portion of every bill went to Rzasa’s adoption fund.
Rzasa says she has known she wanted to adopt a child for about 15 years but faces steep costs. The organization Family Equality reports that can run as high as $40,000 in the United States covering agency fees, legal expenses, home studies and more.
Inspired by friends who have adopted and fostered children, Rzasa bought and renovated a home, knowing she wanted to raise children there.
But when the time came for Rzasa to begin the adoption process, she saw the problem.
“There are a lot more expenses now than there were about 10, 15 years ago. It’s crazy when you sit down and look at the itemization,” she says.
According to Tatiana Dodge, Director of Development and Alumni Relations at MCCC, the dinner at The Blooming Grove Inn was the brainchild of the inn’s owner, Steve Jordan, of Bensalem, Pennsylvania.
Dodge says, “Liz and I and her father were having dinner at Blooming Grove Inn one night and Steve said, ‘I’d really like to contribute to Liz’s adoption, but I want to do something special for her.’”
Dodge, who has experience with fundraising in her current role at Mercer, worked with Jordan to develop a plan. Nearly 50 people attended the dinner, which took up about half the restaurant.
Dodge says, “Liz will be the type of mother that every child, even if they had a phenomenal mother, wished they had.”
Rzasa says, “I have this amazing village of friends.”
One of those friends is Nichol Killian, Assistant to the Dean of Math, Science, and Health Professions at MCCC. Killian says, “[Liz] has such a caring nature about her. Every person that she sees, she wants to help.”
Another member of the village is Lucas Kelly, Interim Dean of Arts and Communications at Mercer.
Kelly says, “Liz is constantly checking in on people…She has got a very maternal instinct.”
Rzasa worked as a nanny while in college. She started her studies at MCCC then went on to earn her bachelor’s degree in music from Montclair State University in 2006. That was followed by a master’s degree from William Paterson University in 2022. She will begin a Ph.D. program in Education at Gwynedd Mercy University this September.
Among her other duties at Mercer, Rzasa has 12 years of experience as Director of Vocal and Musical Studies and Musical Director of the Tomato Patch workshop at Kelsey Theatre.
Rzasa says, “I’ve kind of always been like a second mom to literally thousands of kids through the years.”
Rzasa says she is 55 percent of the way to her fundraising goal.
The adoption agency’s process of reviewing Rzasa’s paperwork will take from three to four months. If approved, she may have to wait for up to two years before she can adopt a child. But she says she is not daunted by the wait.
“I always have a house that’s always filled with laughter and love. So, I just feel like I have so much love to give, you know. I want to keep sharing it,” Rzasa says.
