Sept. 5, 2006

VCU Staff Senate collects more than 10,000 donated school supplies for local middle school

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By Malorie Burkett

Faculty and staff of Martin Luther King, Jr., Middle School and members of the VCU Staff Senate proudly stand behind a table of some of the school supplies collected during VCU’s Back to School Drive. Photo by Malorie Janis, University News Services
Faculty and staff of Martin Luther King, Jr., Middle School and members of the VCU Staff Senate proudly stand behind a table of some of the school supplies collected during VCU’s Back to School Drive. Photo by Malorie Janis, University News Services

In addition to the architectural footprint VCU has left on the city of Richmond, VCU also is increasing its emotional footprint in the heart of the community in which it resides.

And part of that emotional footprint can be found in one of VCU’s closest neighbors – Church Hill’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School.

“We believe that our next VCU students and health care professionals are in this community,” said LaForest F. Williams, president of the VCU Staff Senate. “We wanted to help provide these students with some tools and resources to enhance their education.”

Building one community and bridging the gap are two central themes that the VCU Staff Senate strives to carry out, so it was natural for the VCU Staff Senate to reach out to the neighboring middle school by sponsoring the first Back to School Drive in its name.

As a result, members of the VCU community from both the Monroe Park and MCV campuses collected five large bins of donated school supplies during the month of August for Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School’s 2006-2007 school year. 

From left: VCU Staff Senate president LaForest F. Williams along with Staff Senate members La Von Jones-Jiles and Debbie Stewart, sort various school supplies donated by the VCU community in preparation for the delivery to Martin Luther King, Jr., Middle School. Photo by Brooklyn Jones, University News Services
From left: VCU Staff Senate president LaForest F. Williams along with Staff Senate members La Von Jones-Jiles and Debbie Stewart, sort various school supplies donated by the VCU community in preparation for the delivery to Martin Luther King, Jr., Middle School. Photo by Brooklyn Jones, University News Services

According to Williams, some of the donated items included more than 5,000 pens and pencils, more than 600 spiral notebooks, 50 CDs and an assortment of other items such as backpacks, crayons, glue sticks, calculators and composition notebooks.

Representatives of the VCU Staff Senate delivered these items to the school and formally presented the donations to MLK Middle School during a faculty meeting and breakfast. 

Williams says the Staff Senate will organize additional outreach projects, potentially including a coat drive, tutoring sessions for students and another school supply drive next fall.

“I truly want to thank the VCU community for coming together in support of this outreach project,” said Williams. “We certainly will do all we can to offer continued support to our neighbors.”

The VCU Staff Senate serves to support the diverse staff of VCU and the VCU Health System by facilitating communication and making responsible decisions to meet the current and future needs of the university community. For more, visit http://www.vcu.edu/staffsenate/.