Youth Sync

welcome to ... Youth Sync A regular section in the Northwest Observer focused on our local youth and the adults who positively impact them.

Oak Ridge Elementary staff, families donate to help Ukrainian refugees

by PATTI STOKES

When Jim Smith, assistant principal at Oak Ridge Elementary School (ORES), was approached by a member of his church about getting the school involved in a donation drive for Ukrainian children, he immediately went into motion. The school’s principal, Penny Loschin, agreed that a donation drive would be a great way for ORES students to give back to other children in need, and it wasn’t long before a banner was placed in the main hallway and a table set up underneath it with donation boxes. Parents were asked to send in kid-friendly items including socks, coloring books, crayons and colored pencils, playing cards and travel-size games, and the boxes have been fi lling up fast over the last several days.

Meanwhile, Smith’s friend, Scott Silknitter, set up a website where people can learn more about the donation drive, where to drop off items, and how to make an online donation. He also reached out to Dollar Tree and got some of the Greensboro-area stores to agree to collect donated items – but after a vice president with the corporation learned about the project and helped spread the word, managers with several Dollar Tree stores in High Point, Thomasville and Randleman also agreed to participate.

Silknitter has a connection with a Jewish community center in Krakow, Poland, and all of the donated items will be shipped there for distribution to Ukrainian refugees.

“The project continues to evolve, and the more it grows, hopefully it will make an even bigger impact,” Smith said.

Photo by Jim Smith/Oak Ridge Elementary School

For more info, visit www.coalitionforgood.org.

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