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Students lend a hand during the holidays

A Hand Up for the Holidays, an initiative run by the Lewis J. Burger Center for Student Leadership and Public Service to provide students at Trewyn Elementary with winter clothing items and uniforms, will be collecting items on campus.

Director of Student Activities Tom Coy began the program four years ago around the holidays by reaching out to Trewyn.

“It was started as a joint initiative between Student Activities and the Lewis J. Burger Center, but is transitioning this year to an initiative solely of the LJB Center,” Coy said. “[District] 150 schools require uniforms, and many of the children’s clothes were in rather poor shape, so the LJB Center partners to make sure that the children’s basic needs are able to be met.”

When kids do not have to worry about basic needs, they are more likely to succeed in the classroom, according to Coy.

“The goal of the program is to provide as many school uniforms, hats and gloves to as many students as possible,” Jessica Chandler, director of the LJB Center, said. “We keep increasing the students we are able to help, and this year’s goal is to provide 125 new uniforms to Trewyn kids.”

To contribute, Bradley students can sponsor one or more children. Uniforms cost $20, and the program also accepts unused hats, gloves and children’s underwear to Sisson 139.

“The goal of 125 students is in part [due] to the huge support from the university community,” Coy said. “This program is supported by students, organizations, faculty and staff members.”

To sponsor a child, contact Chandler at jchandler@fsmail.bradley.edu or visit Sisson Hall Room 139. Items can be donated until 5 p.m. Dec. 13.

“The kids at Trewyn are wonderful, but they need an extra hand up around the holiday season,” Chandler said. “It’s an easy way to get involved and make a difference in the life of a child.”

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