The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders invites residents and visitors to experience battlefield life as a World War I American Salvation Army volunteer, featuring Ms. Laurie MacDonald-Gaulke, actress and storyteller, in a special free presentation of “Doughnuts for Doughboys: A Salvation Army Lassie in France.”
Doughnuts for Doughboys takes place on Wednesda, April 25 at 6:30 p.m. at the Liberty Hall Carriage House at Kean University, 1033 Morris Avenue in Union. The event was originally scheduled to coincide with Women’s History Month in March.
“As we face a challenging time in our nation’s history, it is all the more important to celebrate and recognize all the ways that women shape our past, influence our present and lead us into the future,” said Freeholder Chairman Sergio Granados. “Doughnuts for Doughboys” is an exceptional performance that exposes a hidden corner of World War I history in sharp, compelling detail.”
Approximately 500 Salvation Army volunteers during WWI were young women who served with the American Army in France. In this engaging performance the audience will discover that between frying up doughnuts, writing letters for the boy’s for the folks back home, and mending uniforms or ministering to souls on the ravaged battlefields of France, these young women answered the call to “place God in deeds” and become the darlings of the doughboys.
Laurie MacDonnell-Gaulke specializes in creating historical portrayals of real women with real stories to tell as she strives to present each character in a historically, culturally and socially accurate manner.
Her credits include performances at William Paterson University, Caldwell College, University of Delaware, Military Through the Ages in Williamsburg, Virginia; local chapters of the NJ DAR, Belvidere Victorian Days, the Morris Museum, Fosterfields Living History Farm, statewide historical societies and Women’s Clubs. During 1996-1997 she was an artist in residence at The George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum in Springfield, Massachusetts.
The 2018 Women’s History Month Celebration was sponsored by the Freeholder Board through the Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs in the Department of Parks and Recreation, and was funded in part by a grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission, a Division of Cultural Affairs in the Department of State.
For more information on all Cultural and Heritage programs visit ucnj.org, email jprescott@ucnj.org or call 908-436-2912.
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