Ms. Theresa Hicks,
residential counselor in Rodgers Cottage at Jackson-Feild Homes, cares
deeply about others and is passionate about instilling this spirit of
caring in the children at Jackson-Feild Homes. Hicks created Project Giving Back to identify opportunities for residents to help others.
The most recent
venture was to make bracelets for our troops serving in Afghanistan. The
brother of a Rodgers Cottage resident is serving there as is the son of
a staff member. Allan, another resident, is a talented
young man who showed the other boys in Rodgers how to make the bracelets
using Paracord. When the girls saw what the boys were doing, they
wanted to join the effort. All told, a total of 75 bracelets were made
and shipped to our troops. The residents also wrote personal letters to
accompany the bracelets.
Some of the
children's comments were Eddie "It gave me a special feeling to give
back to the men and women defending us", Diane "heart-felt feelings to
do something for someone else" and Anthony "a nice feeling to give
back".
This is the
seventh Project Giving Back effort this year. The residents previously
collected clothing and other items for the Oklahoma tornado victims, and
have made food items and other gifts for residents of Emporia and
Greensville Manor on a number of occasions.The residents
are looking forward to their next opportunity to help others. In the
process of helping others, they are also helping themselves.
