DAYTONA BEACH, FL (Nov. 13, 2009) – Veteran’s Day was celebrated by the Daytona State College chapter of the Florida Association of Community Colleges with a contest to decorate shoeboxes. More than 100 boxes were entered in the contest to win honors for Most Patriotic, Most Creative and Most Unique.
The contest was part of Operation Shoebox, a college-wide effort to collect items – ranging from socks to snacks - to fill shoeboxes to send to military personnel serving overseas. The activity culminates next Wednesday when all the supplies and shoeboxes will be taken to the 60th Annual FACC Convention in Orlando for distribution.
According to Operation Shoebox Chair Linda Sullivan, “The response to this campaign has been tremendous. Students in our Criminal Justice Academy really took this activity seriously and collected more than 700lbs of supplies. The donation response has been so great that we’ve contacted local shoe stores such as Payless and Shoe Carnival to donate empty shoe boxes for us to fill with the supplies.”
The effort continues on Friday, Nov. 13 when chapter members will volunteer their time to sort through the supplies and fill more shoeboxes for shipping next week.
The stuffed shoeboxes and residual supplies will be transport to Orlando by the following FACC members: Linda Sullivan, Sharon Ielfield, Norm Shepard and Charlene Latimer.
“I think we’ve all been surprised by the amount of donations this activity has received,” stated Charlene Latimer, chapter president. “It really is heartwarming to see this kind of response, particularly in these tough financial times.”
The shoebox decoration contest was judged by Daytona State employees Faith Testerman and Rick Shotwell, both Veterans.
To view winning decorated shoeboxes visit www.DaytonaState.edu/facc/shoebox.html
With a statewide membership of more than 9,000, FACC has been in existence since 1949. It is a professional organization for Florida's 28 public community colleges, their Boards, employees, retirees, and associates. The mission of the Association is to actively promote, democratically represent, support and serve the individual members and institutions in their endeavors to provide their students and the citizens of Florida with the best possible comprehensive community college educational system.
-30-
MEDIA CONTACT:
Glyn Johnston, Vice President, Marketing, Communications & Events, (386) 506-4499, johnstg@DaytonaState.edu
A Member of the Florida State College System
Daytona State College assures equal opportunity in employment and education services to all individuals without regard to race, sex, color, age, religion, disability, national origin, political affiliation or belief, or marital status.
