 Honors
Association sponsors Angel Tree
by Emily Parsons Herald Staff Writer
elmomegan@yahoo.com
ASU HERALD 11/13/03 --Making an underprivileged
child's Christmas wish come true is easy to do during the Christmas
season. Just adopt an angel from the tree in the Dean B. Ellis Library.
"The Angel Tree is a community service project
of the Honors Association that is an effort to see to the needs
of the disadvantaged children during the Christmas season. An angel
would call for clothing or toy for a child with the information
of the child's age, gender, size and the toy they like. People take
the angel and write their name on the sheet of paper to make sure
the gift gets to the child," David Levenbach, assistant professor
of political science and honors program director, said.
Lesley Pruitt, a senior political science major
of Grubbs and president of the ASU Honors Association, said, "The
Angel Tree is an annual project sponsored by the ASU Honors Association
to benefit needy children in northeast Arkansas. I contacted the
Department of Human Services director and they gave us the list.
This year the children are from DHS of Mississippi County. There
are 44 children with multiple items this year."
Pruitt said in past years they had helped as many
as 100 children who received two clothing items and one toy. "This
year each child shall receive four clothing items and one toy,"
she said.
Pruitt encourages anyone to get involved with Angel
Tree.
"Anyone is welcomed to help out. It is my
favorite thing that the ASUHA does. and it gives back to the community.
We have a lot of fun with it," she said.
To prepare for the project there was a meeting
each week with Levenbach and Sarah Dixon, a graduate physical therapy
student of Jonesboro. The angels were decorated the meeting time
at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Wayne Narey, assistant director of the honors program
and associate professor of English, said, "I invited the Literature
Club to hold their meetings. The kitchen is used for refreshments.
They asked how they could repay the generosity of the Honors Program.
I suggested that they could help out with Angel Tree. The Literature
Club is helping with the wrapping party this year. This is the second
year that they have helped out with the Angel Tree. The Literature
Club encourages students from across campus to join."
Last Thursday, honors students gathered in the
Honors Lounge at 6:30 p.m. to cut out the angels, color the angels,
put stickers on the angels and put hooks through them.
On Friday the Christmas tree was assembled in the
Dean B. Ellis Library by the Circulation Desk. The wrapping party
is on at 2:30 p.m. Dec. 3, and the gifts will be delivered the next
day.
Each angel has the four clothing items and one
toy specified on the back. To donate the gifts, the students have
to take an angel from the tree, sign the sheet located by the tree
and bring the unwrapped presents to Library 103 B by Dec. 3 at 2:30
p.m.
Last year about $5,000 was raised by various students,
staff, businesses, Greek organizations and churches. The businesses
include Wal-Mart on Parker Road in Jonesboro and in Trumann and
Fred's Dollar Store. Church organizations include Matrons of First
Baptist Church, Women of the Christ Student Center and Shepherd's
Heart Church. Other organizations that helped out include the ASU
Herald, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Pi Gamma Mu and Pi Sigma Alpha.
Also the Gamma Beta Phi Society and the Biology Club helped out
last year.
Elisabeth Compton, a junior wildlife ecology and
management major of Jonesboro and Honors student, said, "I
think it is good that we help so many kids every year. And the angel
making parties and the present wrapping parties are a lot of fun
for us." |
