Dec 8, 2010
When Mandie Maxwell, resident advisor and Student Government Association secretary at Shawnee State University, volunteered to coordinate a clothing drive to get some shirts and socks for boys in a boarding school in Bulgaria, she got the job done with more than 40 shirts and hoodies plus 30 pairs of socks sent to the school. She is also an M3C Ameri-Corps Fellow at SSU.
"I recruited some volunteers and took my group into the community to ask for donations," Maxwell said. "Then I e-mailed all the other resident advisors and they helped."
She found a garage sale in South Shore that donated more than 20 items and Rita Haider, the director of the Center for International Programs and Activities, opened their lending closet and donated shirts, then the university community donated shirts and socks also.
The items collected were for a group of boys from ages 8 to 18 that have been put into a boarding school in Zavet, Bulgaria, on a court order because they have been in trouble.
"Most of these boys only have one set of clothes that they wear day in and day out," said Tim Steflik, SSU alumni from Evans, Ga., who joined the Peace Corps after graduation in May as a Youth Development volunteer in Bulgaria.
Steflik sent a plea to Shawnee State University in October to help these boys get some warm clothes for winter. He was thrilled when he heard about the clothing drive.
"Wow, that is absolutely amazing," Steflik said. "I am actually flabbergasted right now. You really went above and beyond to help and I am overwhelmingly thankful. These kids are going to have a big surprise and will be ecstatic. It will be an early Christmas present for them. They are not used to receiving anything. "
Maxwell is a International Relations major in her sophomore year at SSU from Wooster, Ohio.
