When Linda Wicks says she tells everyone about The Little Bit Foundation, it’s not an exaggeration. “There’s no one I know that doesn’t know about Little Bit. Even strangers in the mall will hear about it if they happen to take a seat by me,” says Wicks. “I believe Little Bit is changing St. Louis and I want to help.”

Wicks first learned of Little Bit when founders Rose Hanley and Elise Tierney made a pitch to The Rotary Club of St. Louis, where her husband has been a member for more than 20 years and served as past president. “I think it must have been the first time they had ever asked a group for money; they were shaking,” she says. “But what they had to say was so special. I wanted to be part of it.”

Before COVID, Wicks would regularly volunteer three afternoons a week in the warehouse, performing “almost any job that needed to get done,” even training new volunteers. Considered high risk for the virus, the 73-year-old has spent much of 2020 at home, but has continued to keep busy for Little Bit by knitting winter hats for students. “One hat takes me about six to eight hours, and I think I finished around 130 last year,” she says.

A retired teacher, Wicks graduated from Riverview Gardens High School and was especially excited when Little Bit entered the school last fall as part of the Project Graduation initiative with the district. “It really takes Little Bit’s role in the lives of students to a new level by not only working to ensure they graduate, but helping them plan for what comes next.”