Meet Diana Makovitch

We recently connected with Diana Makovitch and have shared our conversation below.

Diana, thank you so much for joining us and offering your lessons and wisdom for our readers. One of the things we most admire about you is your generosity and so we’d love if you could talk to us about where you think your generosity comes from.

I was overwhelmed by the generosity of others with a simple thank you and even sometimes tears from customers due to the memories of their loved ones when I finished and presented the special gnome that I made in honor of their Veteran friend or family member.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

My journey began with my longtime friend of 70 +/- years, Ruthann Richwine, as she took me to several ESA meetings. In 2013 I joined ESA (Epsilon Sigma Alpa) Sigma Tau Chapter #5101. I was excited to
meet other ladies (aka Sisters) in order to do things for the surrounding community plus having fun getting to know them when we had socials and meeting. Taking turns meeting in each other’s homes, Sigma Tau held a formal monthly meeting with an agenda to plan yearly money-making projects and to which organizations we would disburse that money to. We have supported the homeless, St Jude, Veterans, etc. by having philanthropic projects in order to donate to these needy organizations.

In 2020 I married and moved further North from the Clearwater area and transferred from Sigma Tau Chapter #5101 to Rho Chi Chapter #5351 of Wesley Chapel Chapter as it was a little closer and a larger group of Sisters. They also had meeting once a month in each other’s homes and followed an agenda of philanthropic projects. However, being a larger group, there were more community events to help support.
I was asked by my Sigma Tau Sister if I would take over the WAA (Wreaths Across America) project as the leader was dealing with a death in her family. I told her yes, and notified WAA that I was now the lead volunteer of Florida Epsilon Sigma Alpha Group. I had to go through zoom training program, how to manage the dashboard, pictures and other information. I soon discovered what other Florida volunteers had done in the past years. As a competitive person, I wanted to outdo their record of selling wreaths. These wreaths were to be place on fallen heroes’ graves in December at the Bushnell Cemetery, Bushnell, FL.
— $3,050.00 — 306 wreaths
— $26,334.00 — 2,630 wreaths
— $8,969.50 — 1,353 wreaths
— $5,355.86 — 792 wreaths
— $3,672.00 — 451 wreaths
— $323.00 — 48 wreaths so far
Thanks to Florida Epsilon Sigma Alph Sisters and Gnome Forces for American Heroes events these were our totals each year.

Now remember I said I was competitive…right? Now competing against myself. I saw an idea of making gnomes from another state. It involved taking a sleeve from a sweater, place it on a sock filled with rice and add a large nose and fury beard, and you have a gnome. I began selling in Dade City, Florida, then moved onto Harley Davidson of New Port Richey and many more events. I wrote to several newspapers and televisions stations.
Good Morning Fox 13 contacted me for an interview. https://youtu.be/mEpnINFw0Ec?si=2j4flK9dN9P-Tm-X

The final touch after making a gnome was to give him his name. I would go to “find a grave” at Bushnell Cemetery and pick out Veterans’ names and place them on a business card adding that card to each and every gnome I had made created. The name was in Honor of a particular Veteran. The money people paid was then donated to WAA in order to lay that wreath on veterans’ graves in December.

The greatest day of my life, and still difficult to believed, is when people saw the news on TV, then drove to the Harley Davidson Dealership, New Port Richey, store asking to see the lady selling the Gnomes. This was how I got the name of the Gnome Lady. My husband and I had worked several events at the same spot. Word got out to other Harley dealerships asking us to host similar events. We met so many Veterans, and vendors. Another of my most memorable moments meeting, Patrick Bradley. He was an Army Veteran and the handler of Thunder, a beautiful bald Eagle. Bradley would set up next to us at events gaining donations to help feed and care for the wild life. I was so fortunate to be able to
hold this beautiful bird. What a joy that was to feel alive.

My husband, who is a veteran, and I also were asked to participate at Fran Haasch’s Annual Food Drive. We participated and donated our profit to her food drive that year. She in return, offered to purchase a tent for our event. Mrs. Haasch, a lawyer and a large supporter of her community veterans and all service-connected affiliates. We have also donated to her food drive and helped with a bookbag hand out one year. We decided the tent that Fran had gifted us needed a name. My husband came up with “Gnome Forces for American Heroes.”

2021-2022 Bottle Cap Benches – I decided to ask our Florida Sisters to start saving bottle caps. We saved 450 pounds of caps and drove them to Indiana where they were melted down and melted down into two benches. One bench was donated to Camp Challenge and the other one was given to a local grade school in Dade City.

2023, 2024 & 2025-DAV (Disabled Veterans) Raffle to help keep their doors open as Veterans helping Veterans. My husband, Dave is a service officer at the Crystal River, FL DAV In 2023 the office was in need of funds to help with utilities. Gnome Forces gave them $1,000 donation. Then I came up with the idea to have a raffle at a local restaurant. I contacted a guy that knew the restaurant’s owner, and who would help with the raffle. I went door to door to many merchants asking for some sort of donation or item to donate to place in raffle baskets to help support our veterans.

Giving to the Bridge 4 Veterans
I decided that I would start helping Veterans in my area. A friend of mine told me that he was delivering food to a Veterans home. As the wife of a veteran, the more my friend told me, the more I felt compelled to help those men who gave so much to us and have received so little in return.

Bridge 4 Veterans home is based in Homosassa, FL. The purpose of this home is to assist veterans who are homeless and either living on the streets or in the woods. There is a 90- day program the men must abide by. Since opening they have seen a great percentage of success. I also help fund the Bridge 4 Veterans donations from the Gnome Forces bank account. They don’t need to ask as I keep in contact with them. The President of the Bridge 4 Veterans goal is to find a facility to convert into a shelter for women veterans, this year.

We often take for granted every day necessitates. In talking with my Florida ESA sorority sisters, I spear-headed a project to give the home toilet paper. I’m pleased to say that we collected 118,402 sheets of TP.

Because the Bridge 4 home was new and needed sleeping accommodations, another project was to collect donations from each chapter to purchase washable/new clean mattresses for 12 beds. The total collected was $2,060.00 that paid for all the mattresses. Gnome Forces purchased bed linens, blankets and a top throw for each bed. For another project I suggested that my ESA Sisters and I create starter kits for
each new veteran that entered the Bridge 4 home for rehabilitation. We filled individual gallon bags with a man’s t-shirt, shampoo, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, deodorant, etc.

At each ESA Board meeting I report how the Bridge 4 Veterans is doing and what their needs are. So many times, my sisters just send me a note asking if the Bridge can use this or that. Most of the time my answer is yes. For example, a sister donated two working televisions to the Bridge. These will be given to Veterans that have graduated from the home and now live in their own rental.

I am very pleased that my journey has led me to this point in my life. Proud to be part of an organization that helps our veterans heal and hopefully find peace. And although I have never served in the military, in the end, I am serving in a small way by donating my time. I have been Hope For Heroes Chairperson for ESA for the past two years, volunteering and scheduling festival events to attend in order to continue my journey in giving to our Veterans as they have given so much to our country and myself.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Loving yourself as you would love other no matter what the circumstance is.
Be compassionate to others
Listening to others

Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?

My husband, Dave as he is a Veteran of the View Naum area and a Service Officer helping other Veterans. He is encourages me when I have a special project that I am putting together. He also gives me credit during and after the project is completed. He is my largest supporter.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Director of Camping & Recreation at Easterseals Sorrento, Florida Camp Challenge, Maggie Denk
David Makovitch, DAV Service Officer of Crystal River
Carrie Schmidt, DAV Service Officer of Crystal River
Alex Challis, Breakfast Station Crystal River

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