LINDA PUGA
campus editor
TCC student organizations collaborated by creating virtual thank you cards for the frontline workers at the the James L. West Dementia Center.
TR student organizations got the opportunity and give back to front- line workers this holiday season.
Sarah Chavez-Reckling has been the faculty adviser for Power of Representation and Inclusion in Student Matters since the organi-zation – formerly under another name–became P.R.I.S.M in August 2019.
The organization is a safe space for LG- BTQIA+ students and allies on TR Campus.
P.R.I.S.M’s organization Senator Rei Vasgas and President Parker Judd expressed in- terest in having a service project this semester. After brainstorming, Chavez-Reckling said
they collectively decided to complete virtual thank-you cards for frontline staff working during the pandemic.
“I reached out to the James L. West Center because my grandma used to live there prior to her passing and I knew how hard the staff work to provide care for those with dementia, Alzheimer’s and other memory care needs,” Chavez-Reckling said.
Knowing the staff at the center are an extremely vulnerable population during COVID-19, Chavez-Reckling thought it was a great way to give back to them.
After contacting the James L. West Cen- ter, Chavez-Reckling received a list of first names for the organization to create virtual thank you cards and invited other organiza- tion volunteers to join them for this project.
Canva was used to create the cards in a unique and personalized way, Chavez-Reck- ling said.
ArtSpace and Sigma Kappa Delta joined in on this project, as well as Cheryl Taylor- West, adjunct Psychology, who provided this opportunity as Service Learning for her stu- dents she said.
Mary Maturo, president of Sigma Kappa Delta, heard from organization adviser Jon Anderson about this opportunity after Chavez-Reckling reached out.
“Like many healthcare workers, they’ve had a very hard year and sacrificed so much for members of our community,” Maturo said. “In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we wanted to let them know how much they were appreciated.”
After discussing it with her officers, Maturo and her team joined in making cards and
alerting their members.
“In total, students created 161 virtual thank you cards and completed approximately 30 service hours,” Chavez-Reckling said. “Once the James L. West Center received them, they printed the cards and displayed them for their staff to pick up from the en- trance.”
Cathy Necee Brown, a West Center staff member, sent Chavez-Reckling a picture of the thank you cards put up on the wall for employees to pick up.
“We will send a text to the employee’s family tomorrow letting them know to find their very own greeting card,” Brown said. “This is an absolutely a ft full of encouragement and love.”
