Local student does community service projects

Photo

Neighbors | Submitted .Stephanie Jickess, a senior at Canfield High School, decided to go to the community to solicit monetary donations and and donations of personal items to use in preparing gift bags for individuals serviced by the Beatitude House as part of her senior service project. She was able to collect enough donations and even used some of her own money to prepare more than 65 gift bags. Pictured are Kelly Elko (program director of permanent supportive housing), Stephanie Jickess, Sr. Janet Gardner (Executive Director), Katin Angelo and Sr. Mary Alyce Koval (site director of A House of Blessing).

Stephanie Jickess, a senior at Canfield High School, is the vice president of the Leo’s Club. As part of her membership in the club, she started a project that has been done for the past four years.

When she was a freshman, Jickess told the club about Souls For Souls, a project where you collect new and used shoes for the needy people of Appalachia. This project is done over several weeks each year. The club collects shoes from the community, boxes them up in bulk and delivers them to the mission’s department of the Diocese of Youngstown to be shipped to needy families in Appalachia.

Jickess is also a member of the Honors Society. As part of her membership, she was to do a senior project. She identified a need in the community and serviced that need. Jickess spoke with the Director of the Beatitude House in Youngstown and found that they do not receive a lot of donations around Valentine’s Day. She decided to go out into the community and solicit monetary donations and donations of personal items to use in preparing gift bags for all individuals serviced by the Beatitude House.

She was able to collect enough donations and even used some of her own money to prepare more than 65 gift bags. The bags included personal items such as scented creams, soaps and body sprays. Some candy was added to the bags for the children of those individuals serviced by the Beatitude House. A friend of hers, Katin Angelo, also a senior at Canfield High School, helped her to put the bags together and deliver them.