Students and employees at the Perkinston Campus of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College are invited to donate new or lightly used teddy bears or stuffed animals in support of the Perkinston Campus Civitan Club’s first community service project, Bears on Patrol. The event, which is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, September 10, noon-1 p.m., will be held outside the Barry L. Mellinger Student Center on the Perkinston Campus.
“Everyone is invited to ‘fill-up the pick-up,’ and our goal is to collect at least 500 stuffed animals that will be distributed to local police and fire agencies,” said Keith Wilson, Civitan Club adviser.
The club is a new student-lead organization that performs campus and community service, and is sponsored by the Biloxi-Edgewater Civitan Club, an entity of Civitan International. Civitan’s motto is “builders of good citizenship.”
“I am honored to sponsor a student organization of this nature on the Perkinston Campus. Campus Civitan will give our students the chance to learn more about civic engagement via principles of service, knowledge and fellowship,” Wilson said. “Club members are currently planning to charter this new organization in October, and I am excited to see their energy being geared toward community service.”
Wilson was recently honored as the Civitan International Magnolia District’s Outstanding Club President for 2008-2009 at a recent convention in Lafayette, La. Wilson, a 2002 graduate of the college’s Jackson County Campus, is manager for the Perkinston Campus Financial Aid Office.
For more information on Civitan International, visit the organization’s Web site at www.civitan.org or www.campuscivitan.org.
