The Future Teachers Society, an education service organization at Charleston Southern University, partnered with two Professional Development Site schools this holiday season to provide Christmas gift boxes to deserving youngsters.
The initiative, coined Operation Charleston Child, replicates the successful international effort – Operation Christmas Child, spearheaded by Samaritan’s Purse ministry, in which millions of shoeboxes containing holiday gifts are shipped to children around the globe. The future teachers at CSU were among the first in the Lowcountry to engage in that initiative in the late 1980s but decided to shift their focus locally for 2007.
The School of Education at CSU is already in partnership with two schools – Spann Elementary in Dorchester School District II and Ladson Elementary in Charleston County – to offer their support to improve the educational experience for children. Operation Charleston Child is a simple, meaningful way to match one future teacher with a child in need.
Guidance counselors at each site prepared a list of the most deserving children, and CSU future teachers and education faculty created personalized gift boxes containing school supplies, books, small gifts and treats. The boxes were delivered to the sites by CSU faculty Linda Karges-Bone and Becky Hill, who serve as PDS liaisons.
Professional Development Sites are part of a national movement in which universities work with local schools in mutually beneficial ways, to train new teachers and enhance the work of teachers already on site. Meeting the needs of children and families is a natural outgrowth of the partnerships.