Ania (McNamara) Munzer B’12 was only 4 when she and her three sisters were adopted from an orphanage in Poland and brought to the United States.
Her only vivid memories of that time have been brought to life by the numerous home movies her father made, lugging around a giant camera on his shoulder.
In fact, she and her sisters don’t have any photos of themselves prior to the day their soon-to-be adoptive parents, William B’76 and Grace (Wojski) McNamara B’77, met them. Their first photo shows all four little blonde girls, between the ages of 4 and 8, linked arm and arm.
Her sophomore year at Saint Mary’s, during the study abroad program in Italy, Munzer saw an opportunity to return to her roots — to find the orphanage in Poland.
“My dad had passed away and I was really struggling,” she admits. “I was looking for something, and I knew it could answer questions I had in my life.”
With only one day left before she would return to Minnesota, she and a couple of other students made their way to Warsaw and then separated. Munzer was overwhelmed and frustrated with trying to navigate her way around a foreign country where English is rarely spoken.
“By the grace of God, I turned the corner of some random street and there was a bus with the name of the city I was looking for on top,” she said.
When she arrived at the city, she began walking aimlessly, eventually stopping at a gas station and restaurant, where a waitress hastily sketched her a map to the orphanage on a napkin. She still has this precious piece of paper.
Following the map, she arrived at a large green gate she’d seen many times in those home movies, and she knew she’d found Dom Dziecka (the House of the Children).
Nervous and excited, she rang the doorbell, and eventually, Sister Elizabeth came to the door. This was the very Sister who had changed Munzer’s diapers and remembered with fondness the four young sisters — once referred to as “the pearls” of the orphanage.
“It was like meeting my fairy Godmother, almost like meeting my biological mother in a way,” Munzer said. “She took care of me, nurtured me as a baby. It was emotional. We wrote to each other for years. I’ve been back five or six times and I’ve never run into her again.”
Back at Saint Mary’s, Munzer continued to struggle with depression but found healing in helping the children of Dom Dziecka have a happier Christmas. “I think the Lasallian foundation kind of saved me,” she said. “I think one of the most natural ways of healing through pain is to give back to others and find meaning behind that.”
Joined by an army of other student and family volunteers, Munzer put her business and entrepreneur skills to work, raising money, calculating and coordinating shipping, and organizing a massive wrapping party. That first year, 35-40 Polish children received Christmas presents.
Each year for the next 12 years, Munzer paired families with children in need of help. Even when she moved to Tampa, Fla., she found a way to coordinate the massive process long distance in White Bear Lake, Minn. She frequently shipped 500- 600 pounds of gifts, sometimes by ship, sometimes by plane if that’s what it took to get them there in time. “When shipping by plane, the costs are double,” she said. “I would have to find funding and sometimes I would have to take it out of my own pocket … because I had to.”
Eventually, the project grew from one orphanage to three and as many as 60 children. Munzer found it difficult to say no. “They have basically nothing,” she said. “(When we were living there), we were malnourished. Our biological parents were poor. Now on that other side, as a parent, I understand that this is the most precious time in their development. I saw children who didn’t have that.”
One year Munzer even took the children at the orphanage to the mall to pick out their own gifts, knowing the donated funds would stretch farther in Polish stores. “It was wild. I would never do that again,” she said with a laugh. “It was stressful but they all got to get what they wanted or what they needed. They just wanted socks without holes or new sneakers. It wasn’t a video game, it was their own gym bag or a basketball.”
She also took orphanage directors shopping for new bedsheets or simple home items. She traveled to visit the orphanages every year or every other year, until COVID-19 hit.
“I got to know the children, many I knew for a decade,” she said. “Some of the older ones would email me for advice. It was nice to know I made some sort of difference. They had somebody.”
The best part of the gift exchange was seeing videos and photos of the children’s excitement of opening their gifts.
“You go through the insanity and then get the reward,” she said. “And you’re like, that was worth it, I’m going to do that again next year.”
Now a wife, mother to daughter Ewalina, age 1 ., and after taking over her mother’s business, Munzer said she made the difficult decision to step back from the massive gift exchange, although she continues to support the orphanage personally.
She hopes one day her daughter will join her in her work and learn more about her past, and Poland, which will always be dear to her heart.
“I really believe it will be one of the most amazing things I can teach her, the gift of giving back,” she said. “There is healing and power in giving back and it should be part of your daily existence. It’s the right thing to do, and it isn’t about wanting anything in return. I always say, ‘Just remember, you can pass it on.’
“I would love to take Ewalina to Poland. My husband and I got married in Poland. We speak Polish around her. And it’s my story. I believe there’ll be another chapter to all of this.”
