Frankston students collecting items for Crisis Center

Apr. 30—A group of Frankston High School students are collecting items for the Crisis Center of Anderson and Cherokee Counties.

T'kia Christopher, McKenzie Dillard, Desirae Hatton, Aryonna Hatton and Ariana Serrano formed a mock non-profit, Generation to Generation, for a class at school. While the non-profit may abstract, the project the students have adopted is very real. The group is collecting items for women and children who find themselves in difficult, even desperate situations.

"We want to help other people that can't really help themselves,"Desirae Hatton said. "We want to make them feel like they have support other than just family."

Aryonna Hatton expressed a similar sentiment.

"I feel like it's just good for them to know they have people that care about them and that's thinking about them and to know that they're not alone," she said. "They have people that care."

Serrano conveyed another hope for the project's outcome.

"I think it's important that we're not only focusing on what goes on in our neighborhoods, but in other communities, to be able to help out if we can do that," she said.

Items the group is collecting include hygiene and toiletry items, twin-size bed sheets, pillow cases, items for a one-year old infant, canned foods, boxed foods, snack cakes and chips.

T.J. Foster, the instructor of the professional communications class in which the students developed the idea for the donation drive, said the crisis center explained they receive funding for nutritional foods but snack foods are a luxury not usually in the budget.

Foster said when he spoke with the director at the crisis center she was moved by the students' desire to help. He said she told him few people think about the crisis center.

Foster added that their first donation came from the local Methodist Church, who called to have the items picked up. Three of the group went with Foster to collect the items.

"I feel like we're doing something really helpful," Aryonna Hatton said.

She said she hopes their actions spur other students to participate in the community.

Anyone willing to donate items are asked to drop them off at the front office of the Frankston High School before Friday, May 10.

The group is not accepting monetary donations.

If special arrangements need to be made for collecting donations contact Foster at 903-876-3219.

For information about the Crisis Center of Anderson and Cherokee County, visit mycrisiscenter.com.

If in need of assistance, the crisis center maintains a 24-hour confidential hotline at 800-232-8519.