North
Carolina Department of Correction news release
Last updated February 4, 1997
Correction Employees Brighten Holidays
For Children
| More than 500 children and senior
citizens will have their Christmas brightened thanks to
an Angel Tree project organized by a group of North
Carolina Department of Correction employees. "This
project is what the spirit of Christmas is all
about," said state Correction Secretary Mack Jarvis,
speaking to more than 500 employees to kick off the Angel
Tree project. "In the last year, correction
employees have heroically rescued traffic accident
victims, helped communities recover from hurricanes and
ice storms, collected caps for children being treated for
cancer and contributed to their communities in many ways.
Thinking of others during the busy holiday season is
another fine example of our employees’s spirit of
caring, concern and action."
With Jarvis’s support, Gloria Shephard of the
department’s Management Information Systems office
organized the project that asked correction employees
working in Wake County to provide gifts for those in
need.
We wanted to do something that would have an impact in
the community," Shephard said. "We wanted
people to see that we’re not just an agency of
discipline, but of love as well."
Shephard and a team of correction employees
volunteered their time and contacted Wake County Human
Services, the Helping Hand Mission of Raleigh and the
Salvation Army for the names of people who needed help.
Other employees recommended the department help the
Central Children’s Home of North Carolina and the
Oxford Masonic Orphanage, both in Oxford. And 60
correction employees who were recovering from crises were
also included. In all, Shepherd said the
department’s Angel Tree was filled with 585 names.
|
 Secretary Jarvis
presented gifts to Priscilla Alford,
Michele Weary (back row), Carrie Shultz,
Abigail Sanchez and Cynthia Kelly (front row-L to R)
from the Masonic Orphanage of Oxford during
kick off ceremonies for the Angel Tree project.
|
The Angel Tree names and their wishes were circulated through
correction offices in November. All but a few names were
selected. A fundraising project insured gifts for all. A number
of food baskets were prepared for senior citizens. Transportation
arrangements were made to grant a Raleigh woman’s request
that her 71-year-old brother make the trip from a Raleigh nursing
center to visit her home Christmas day. Another group of
correction employees took on the special task of finding bicycles
that children requested on their wish list. Some offices pooled
their resources to buy new bikes and others made repairs to used
two-wheelers.
Shepherd says the volunteers plan to make arrangements with
Wake County Human Services and the Salvation Army to pick up the
gifts Wednesday, Dec. 17. They will deliver the gifts to the
orphanages in Oxford, too.
Western Youth Institution
Western Youth Institution of Morganton has played Santa Claus
for a Burke County school. The school’s principle identified
12 children and suggested things they may need. Each of the
prison’s departments sponsored a child. The prison staff
collected more than $700 worth of new toys, clothing and quality
used clothing. Funds were also raised to pay for school supplies,
field trips and to purchase issues of the Weekly Reader.
The prison's employees have collected food for several
co-workers who are facing medical and monetary crisis.
Craven Correctional Institution
For the second year in a row, prison staff have worked with a
local school to adopt a family for Christmas. This year, the
prison and a community church joined to help a family that has
nine children. Staff collected toys, non-perishable food items,
clothing and houseware items to give to the family. Each child
will have a large Christmas bag with all of the gift items
enclosed. One of the employees and a church member will deliver
the gifts Christmas Eve.
Staff working with inmates in the prison’s horticulture
program grew approximately 100 poinsettia, wrapped them for
Christmas complete with bows and delivered them to the New Bern
homeless shelter, Coastal Women's Shelter and the New Bern rest
home.
DAPP - Halifax County
District 6A Probation and Parole staff members brightened the
holidays for an underprivileged child this Christmas by donating
$367.00 to purchase a bicycle, dolls, games and clothing for the
child. A committee of district members chaired by Pat Thompson
and comprising Karen Bozard, Tammy Lassiter, Doug Hardy and Penny
Bunch spearheaded the project. Santa Claus presented the child
with the gifts during a Christmas party attended by staff and the
child's mother.
Rowan Correctional Center
Staff and inmates at Rowan Correctional Center helped several
underprivileged families have a merrier Christmas this year by
donating and repairing 30 bicycles for needy children in
Appalachia. David Ellis, program assistant at Rowan Correctional
Center, coordinated the bicycle project, and Mike Baker,
maintenance director at the Center, assisted the inmates with the
repairs. Volunteers with the Parson of the Hills Christian
Outreach Program distributed the bicycles through community
organizations.
Sampson Correctional Center
As founder of the United Community Outreach Program and
Christmas Caring Toys for Tots Program, Valerie Reynolds has
helped make a big difference in the lives of many less fortunate
children and their families. Reynolds, a food service assistant
at Sampson Correctional Institution, has spent the last four
Christmases organizing and running the program which provides
approximately 200 needy children each year with toys and food
during the holiday season. The program culminated with a holiday
party complete with food, entertainment and a visit from Santa.
DAPP - Durham County
Probation and Parole officers in Durham reached out to help
the community this holiday season. They formed a Food and Clothes
Team committee known as FACT. They collected donations and
presented representatives of the Durham Dept. of Social Services
and the Durham Rescue Mission with several boxes of canned food
and more than 20 large bags filled with clothes. Chief Probation
and Parole Officer Geoffrey Hathaway was assisted in this project
by officers Odessa Gatewood, Tonya Griffis, Donnie Harris, Myron
Moore, Jesse Reaves, Alfred Solomon, Terence Eason, Rodney Ellis
and office assistant Peggy Teachey.