To provide aid for underprivileged students in the Greater Dayton Area, the Sinclair Community College women’s basketball team will be collecting school supplies, which they will donate to Dayton Crayons to Classrooms.
Dayton Crayons to Classrooms (DC2C) is a free resource center whose goal is to serve teachers and students in 88 Dayton area schools where more than 70 percent of the students live at or below poverty, according to DC2C.org.
Items most needed are: crayons (24 count), pens, pencils, glue sticks, filler paper, folders, scissors, rulers, markers, notebooks and facial tissue, according to the Lady Pride’s page on Sinclair.edu.
Donations can be made at all Lady Pride home games, where items can be placed in specially marked barrels or through the Sinclair Athletic department, located in Building 8 Room 023.
Coach Jeff Dillon said the Lady Pride have done a community service project every year he has been at Sinclair and decided to get involved with DC2C after assistant coach Rochelle Meinking learned about it. Dillon said he encourages people coming to White Out Wednesday on Feb. 10 or any other game to donate school supplies.
“You can go to Staples, Office Depot and places like that and they have dollar bins (of school supplies),” Dillon said. “For $5 you can help some young kid have a good experience in the classroom.”
Dillon said after materials are collected, they are taken to the DC2C’s warehouse, where eligible teachers come shop for supplies free of charge. Dillon said his team volunteered at the warehouse, where they assisted teachers in finding the materials they needed.
“It was really cool watching our kids (volunteer),” Dillon said. “The teachers were very appreciative of the help.”
DC2C Retail Program Manager, Debra Seger, said the donations not only improve a child’s education but also help them believe in themselves.
“It’s been proven that when kids have the proper tools, their test scores go up, their self-esteem goes up and their self-confidence goes up,” she said.