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Donation commotion: Gunter students give money, toys to Women's Crisis Center
By Andrew Snyder, asnyder@starlocalnews.com
The spirit of giving was alive and well Monday among Gunter Elementary students who donated money and toys to the Women's Crisis Center of Grayson County, which supports victims of family violence and sexual assault.
“This is an especially dark time for the families who make the difficult decision to spend the holidays in a shelter,” said Rachel Morgan, executive director of the Women’s Crisis Center, in a release about the event. “Donations like the ones from these Gunter students brings warmth to these families and lets them know the community cares for them and they will get through this.”
Students from the school collected $895.45 in change during a two-week period this month to donate to the center, along with toys provided by third-grade students. The project was an initiative from gifted and talented students and was sponsored by teacher Tina Smith, who took students to the center to make the donation.
“That empowers clients to come in and pick what their families need,” said Mary Dolezalek, family violence and sexual assault program coordinator at the center.
Dolezalek said that the center currently has about 67 kids who will receive toys and each will receive about 10 toys, which range from a small stuffed animal to a bicycle. The center is in Sherman and serves clients from not just the surrounding area, but from across the nation.
Toys donated by Gunter ISD students included Barbie and baby dolls, footballs, Hot Wheels cars, stuffed animals, board games, books and gently used toys and clothing that will go to a thrift store the center operates at 1729 Texoma Pkwy. in Sherman. The store is open to the public, though center clients are provided with vouchers they can use to purchase items for free. All proceeds from store sales go to the center.
Christmas sees an increase in donations to the center from area organizations, businesses and individuals. Another recent donation of new toys came from the Texoma Soccer Association and was presented to the center by a pair of rival teams
The center is still in need of donations, particularly items on a wish list it put together that includes paper towels, toilet paper, cooking oil and baby lotion. The complete list can be found at
http://www.graysoncrisiscenter.org/.
“Gunter ISD gave us such a generous donation that we are very thankful for,” Dolezalek said. “We have a wonderful community in this area. We strive to help victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. We try and provide Christmas gifts for every family in our program and at times our funds limit the resources for the work we can do, so when we have such generous donations we aren’t spread as thin and can continue to provide the much needed programs for our community. We are very thankful to our community for their support all year long.”
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