Published Wednesday, May 07, 2008 11:35 AM
Updated Wednesday, May 07, 2008 11:36 AM

 

Helping Hands

When a family is on the edge of poverty, it does not take much to push them below the line – the loss of a job, a car accident, or an illness without medical insurance can put an already vulnerable family in a precarious situation.

If they have enough money for food, they may be forced to go without other basic needs, like a new toothbrush to replace one that is old and frayed, or a washcloth to replace one that has become threadbare at the edges.

That is why, says Michelle Maynard, Director of Operations for Helping Hands of Goose Creek, having hygiene items available at the food bank is so important, and also why she is grateful that a recent collection drive organized by Stratford High School and SunTrust Bank brought in 120 boxes full of donated items.

“We were completely impressed and thankful,” she said. “This is such a blessing for us.”

Jeffery Dunbar, a Financial Services Representative at SunTrust, came up with the idea for the drive. He contacted Helping Hands, found out what they needed and contacted Alison Smith, assistant principal at Stratford. They contacted CiCi's Pizza, so the classroom that collected the most items would get you-know-what for lunch, while the teacher would receive a $50 gift certificate.

A North Charleston company, Fennell Container, donated the boxes that were put in classrooms so students had a place to drop off the donated supplies.

The drive occurred between March 31 and April 11. By the end, students from all grades had collected 587 pounds of items like toothpaste, paper towels, brushes and shampoo.

“It was everything you can imagine … it was a wealth of stuff,” Maynard said.

A graduate of Stratford, Dunbar is proud that the bank is one of the school's official business partners and thinks the drive was a success.

“I thought the result was great, being the first year that we did something like this, we just wanted to give back to the community and do something good,” he said.

Smith was also pleased with the result. She noted that the class that won, Tiffany Eady's senior English class, surprised everyone by collecting 530 items. The other classes chipped in with around 100 items each, and next year the school hopes to collect even more.

“For our first year, we did a very good job, our students really seem to want to get involved when it comes to helping out the community,” she said.

Jared Goyette can be reached at jgoyette@goosecreekgazette.com or at 830-9181