Student volunteers are attempting to bridge the gap between the residents of Athens and Ohio University students by donating winter clothing to the Athens County Juvenile Court system.
The Student Social Work Association, Honors College Advisory Council and Theta Tau Professional Engineering Fraternity collected hats, gloves, scarves and coats to give to children in the process of probation and restitution in the Athens County Juvenile Court.
Pamela Pate, the community service coordinator at the Campus Involvement Center, said she recognized that the children needed warm clothing and toiletries earlier this year. The resources could help the children who get caught in a cycle of poverty and crime, she said.
We have the source of OU students that are not in that poverty cycle
and the partnership is that they can exchange their belongings and (also it can) educate them on the gift of giving she said. We are not trying to save or fix people but to use their responses as part of a solution.
Almost 100 juveniles between the ages of 12 and 18 are benefitting from the donations received from OU students.
Jenny Slack, a community service coordinator at the Athens County Juvenile Court, said she noticed children standing at bus stops without jackets and children in the court system going without everyday necessities such as deodorant, soap and toothpaste. She approached Pate to find organizations that were willing to help.
Slack says she hopes to raise self-esteem levels and create job readiness in children in and out of the court system in Athens by providing these basics.
This is filling empty closets
Slack said.
Kimberly Castor, president of the Student Social Work Association, said she understood the need at a personal level - being from Meigs County, she sympathizes with the children in Southeast Ohio.
I've seen the need and I know in my school district I saw the same things. ... (Students) need to get out there and realize there is a great need for it
Castor said.
The student organizations set up boxes in central areas and advertised the cause to friends, families and colleagues. Dozens of bags and boxes full of coats, hats, gloves and scarves were donated.
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Stephanie Stark
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(Left to right) Pamela Pate, of the Campus Involvement Center, Jenny Slack, the Community Service Coordinator with the Athens County Juvenile Court and Kimberly Castor, president of the Student Social Work Association, pose yesterday at the Courthouse with clothes, gloves and hats collected for students age 12 to 18 in the Athens County school systems. (Erin Corneliussen | FOR THE POST)
