By Jalyn Bolyard, Online Editor
This spring semester, the Public Relations and Journalism joint capstone classes are collecting donations for St. John’s Home for Children in Wheeling as part of their project.
The home is a twelve-bed facility for boys normally aged eight to 14, who either have behavioral or emotional difficulties, have been victims of abuse and neglect, or a combination. Currently, St. John’s has ten children.
“St. John’s is such a great organization that helps boys be re-entered into their home or introduced to an orphanage to be adopted,” said student Mark Carson. “These boys come from broken homes, or homes where parents need help fixing behavioral problems. Some of these boys get there with little more than the shirts on their backs. Working in inner city missions, I saw firsthand how bad it can get, and though these kids do not live on the street or anywhere near street conditions, it’s still important to help. They live in a wonderful facility with three meals a day and plenty to do. I feel it’s important to help out any way we can.”
The capstone group is working on preparing Easter baskets for the kids and also a clothing drive that will be held throughout the semester.
The Easter baskets can include a variety of items. Some of the items that are needed include small toys that aren’t weapons, school supplies, beach towels, flip-flops, and sport related equipment (balls, bats, gloves). Donations are being accepted until March 21, and delivery will be made the next week so that the kids can have a happy Easter surprise.
“I think it’s great that we get to help St. John’s because they’re an amazing organization,” said student Josie McCoy. “I love being able to help them by doing stuff that we’ve learned throughout our college career. It’s really rewarding.”
Clothing sizes needed for the boys are sizes six, eight, 10/12, boys 14/16 and boys XL. If any member of the WLU community has any gently used or new clothes in this size, please feel free to donate them in any of the clothing donation boxes around campus. Boxes will be located in each dorm building, and a box will also be in the College Union. Donations from the boxes will be collected on April 27.
“I’m excited this capstone group is helping St. John’s. I think they do a lot of good work and really deserve this help. I hope whoever has the chance to donate does so,” said student Emily Salvatori.
Both new and gently used donations will be accepted, so keep in mind to look around your house for any unwanted items because anything is appreciated.
For more information regarding the capstone or to make a donation, please email Mark Carson at [email protected].
