2008 Woodie Awards
Honors Club Drives to Keep Community Warm
Dina Khiry
Issue date: 11/15/06 Section: Top Stories
- Page 1 of 1
The newly formed William Paterson University Honors Club is helping Paterson keep warm this winter.
The Honors Club is holding a coat drive on Nov. 20 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Science Building for members of the WPU community to donate any coats they could, to help during the cold winter months.
The Honors Club Vice President Colleen Takemoto, a senior psychology major and Spanish minor, said that this event is an attempt to reach prospective honors students since the club is new to WPU this year.
The club is teaming with NJ Cares, a volunteer organization sponsoring the event, to distribute the donated coats to the different outlets involved, which include Eva's Village in Paterson, YMCA in Paterson, Jersey Cares Coat Drive in Morristown, Our Sister's Shelter in Passaic and the Bowery Mission in New York City, Blizzard said.
Eva's Village offers help free of charge through their staff of volunteers.
"Eva's serves among the poorest of the poor," said Bruce Naidoff, director of development at Eva's Village. "They include the chronically homeless and street people who have literally nothing but the clothes on their backs."
Naidoff said the agency's mission is to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, treat the addicted and provide medical care to the poor.
Eva's Village has also held sock drives to remind people that those who come to Eva's cannot afford such simple necessities.
"Many of Eva's clients suffer from mental illnesses, addiction to alcohol and drugs, domestic violence, sexual abuse, physical disabilities and lack of education or job skills," he said.
Naidoff also said that Eva's has a primary care clinic run by a physicians and volunteer nurse practitioners from WPU.
"The impoverished have been forgotten about in society and (we) would like to change this stigma," said Michael Blizzard, president of the Honors Club.
"Warm coats are needed because so many of our clients spend almost all of their time outside, even in the bitterest weather," said Naidoff.
Blizzard said the Honors Club will be accepting coats for men, women and children, and people should bring in as many as they can spare.
"If a donated coat keeps someone warm this season, I have done God's will," he said.
The Honors Club is holding a coat drive on Nov. 20 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Science Building for members of the WPU community to donate any coats they could, to help during the cold winter months.
The Honors Club Vice President Colleen Takemoto, a senior psychology major and Spanish minor, said that this event is an attempt to reach prospective honors students since the club is new to WPU this year.
The club is teaming with NJ Cares, a volunteer organization sponsoring the event, to distribute the donated coats to the different outlets involved, which include Eva's Village in Paterson, YMCA in Paterson, Jersey Cares Coat Drive in Morristown, Our Sister's Shelter in Passaic and the Bowery Mission in New York City, Blizzard said.
Eva's Village offers help free of charge through their staff of volunteers.
"Eva's serves among the poorest of the poor," said Bruce Naidoff, director of development at Eva's Village. "They include the chronically homeless and street people who have literally nothing but the clothes on their backs."
Naidoff said the agency's mission is to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, treat the addicted and provide medical care to the poor.
Eva's Village has also held sock drives to remind people that those who come to Eva's cannot afford such simple necessities.
"Many of Eva's clients suffer from mental illnesses, addiction to alcohol and drugs, domestic violence, sexual abuse, physical disabilities and lack of education or job skills," he said.
Naidoff also said that Eva's has a primary care clinic run by a physicians and volunteer nurse practitioners from WPU.
"The impoverished have been forgotten about in society and (we) would like to change this stigma," said Michael Blizzard, president of the Honors Club.
"Warm coats are needed because so many of our clients spend almost all of their time outside, even in the bitterest weather," said Naidoff.
Blizzard said the Honors Club will be accepting coats for men, women and children, and people should bring in as many as they can spare.
"If a donated coat keeps someone warm this season, I have done God's will," he said.
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