Le Provocateur

Issue date: 12/4/04 Section: News Stories

The children who will recieve the shoeboxes

As December approaches, while the majority of the Assumption community obsesses over finals, vacations, and the ever-dreaded overcrowded malls, many members of the Worcester community fixate instead on real needs, such as the need for a coat.

The Reach Out Center strives to meet these needs. As winter nears, teachers in the Worcester Public Schools identify students without coats that fit as well as students without coats at all. Assumption's ROC receives hundreds of names, which students and faculty can then choose from. Unwrapped coats, as well as hats and mittens, are returned to the office by December 7th when Reach Out Center Director Deborah Lynch delivers them herself to the schools.

"Coats for Kids has been phenomenally successful," said Lynch. "We know that coats can be expensive, but we encourage people to go [in] together on them."

In three years, Assumption's purchase of coats has more than doubled, rising from the initial 30 to 76 last year.

Operation Mexico, formerly known as the Shoebox Project, joins Coats for Kids in its astounding level of accomplishment. Three years ago, an Auburn agency approached the ROC about involvement in a holiday project entailing the creation of boxes of small toys for underprivileged children in countries around the world. The Assumption branch of the Shoebox Project ran for two years, but disappointment in its execution necessitated change. The boxes were arriving in an untimely manner, and in some instances, not all.

"That bothered me," said Lynch. "I want to advertise something I can count on happening."

ROC volunteers have shifted the project's focus, now shipping packages themselves to the same rural, poverty-stricken villages that Assumption students visit each spring during the Mexico Mission.

"We have more control, and we bolster real relationships in December before meeting in May," said Lynch.

With packages in the mail by December 2nd or 3rd, the children collect their surprises in plenty of time for the holidays. Barrettes, brushes, and puzzles under $10 enliven these distressed children who dress in their best clothes when lining up to graciously accept their treasures. Expressing gratitude with mounds of letters, drawings, and pictures, the children know and feel the life-altering effects of mere kindness.

Continued...

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