THE SEBASTIAN SEGUI BACKPACK PROJECT


The Sebastian Segui Backpack Project got its start by a simple gesture of a very sweet little boy named Sebastian Segui, who is Marci Segui’s son. Marci is a member of Altrusa International of St. Augustine. At the time, Sebastian was 6 years old and they were talking about different ways to help out their local community. First Sebastian and his cousin, Ian Segui held their first lemonade stand and donated the money to the Homeless Coalition of St. John’s County. Then Sebastian came up with the idea to give presents to the children at the Coalition. Marci told Altrusa about what Sebastian wanted to do for the children. Altrusa though it was a great idea to give presents for the children’s birthday – especially since part of the gift was books and improving literacy is one of Altrusa’s main projects. When Marci and Sebastian delivered the presents for the first time and found out that the children loved their gifts, Sebastian wanted to give more gifts. Sebastian enjoyed shopping for the PJs and filling the birthday bags for the children.
Altrusa has kept Sebastian’s simple and kind gesture going and now this is one of the main projects of the club that brings joy to the children of the Coalition. When the project first stared, the gifts contained a brand new pair of PJs and a book in a birthday bag. Today each child receives a backpack filled with PJs, books, a blanket, and a birthday card.
Sebastian has since graduated from high school; but he still helps in shopping for gifts for the children. Marci’s nephew, Zachary Segui now helps Marci deliver the backpacks each month to the children.