YOUNGSTOWN Clothing drive benefits more than the recipients
The clothing drive began in January and goes until Wednesday.
By SEAN BARRON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
YOUNGSTOWN -- When Charity Pappas volunteered to serve food at the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley recently, she came away wanting to do more for the agency.
As a result, a clothing drive -- a church youth group's first community project -- was born.
After taking her plan to one of Mahoning Valley Church's pastors, Pappas, 19, got about 50 other members of Christians Radically Undoing Satan's Handiwork to encourage others to donate clothing items, toiletries and money to the Rescue Mission.
As a result, many parishioners at the church, located on Mahoning Avenue on the city's West Side, have answered the call.
"I wanted to do a service project to give something back" to the community, Pappas said.
New priorities: The clothing drive, which goes until Wednesday, began in January; the following month, members of CRUSH began seeking donations. For some youths, the project has resulted in a change in priorities.
"I was into ... partying," said Ashley Cropper, 16. "This has shown me there's other things outside of partying."
The Chaney High School student also mentioned hands-on work she performed at the Rescue Mission, including serving food to clients and joining them for a meal. Ashley added that her family recently donated a bag of clothes.
"I get to see people who benefit and how it blesses them to give them what others think is garbage," she said of her volunteer work.
For more information, call the Mahoning Valley Church at (330) 797-3203.
Closet cleaning: Stephen Meklo, 21, a church youth leader, said he saw the clothing drive as an opportunity to create more closet space. Meklo said he wanted to give away various clothes, some of which he said he's had since seventh grade.
Meklo added he was struck by church members' willingness to help others less fortunate.
Nevertheless, Pappas said business donations are down since last year, when she conducted another community project. Pappas added that she thinks the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks are partially responsible because many more local business donation dollars went to relief efforts in New York City.
Pappas also said that the clothing drive has had several positive effects on members of the 3-year-old youth group.
"We're trying to teach youth that when you give, you don't have to get a gold star or have someone reciprocate," she pointed out. "It's a blessing just to give and get them to see that what you have, not everybody does."