Schuylkill nursing students Corrine Joy and Cristen Wytovich create Jared Boxes as part of their Penn State College of Nursing honor society service project.
SCHUYLKILL HAVEN, Pa. — The Penn State College of Nursing's honor society, Beta Sigma, selected the Jared Box Project as its service project for spring 2016. The friends and family of Jared McMullin, a boy from State College who, at age 6, lost his battle with brain cancer, started the Jared Box Project in State College. Jared Boxes are shoebox-sized plastic containers full of toys, games and other items to help distract and entertain children who are in the hospital. The boxes symbolize the importance of play and are filled with well wishes, hope and love.
Nursing students at Penn State Schuylkill, along with participating students from the Penn Berks and Brandywine campuses, created Jared Boxes during their Data Management for Nurses course. They intended to create nine boxes, but so many items were collected that they ultimately created 22 boxes. The students all placed special notes inside for the child who received the box, in the hopes of lifting their spirits.
On April 29, Marianne Adam, coordinator of the nursing program at Penn State Schuylkill, and Anne Joos, nursing program staff support at Penn State Schuylkill, delivered the boxes to Renee Madgeburg, director of maternal/child health at the Schuylkill Health Medical Center South Pediatric Unit.
Students at Penn State Altoona also built Jared Boxes as part of their service project.
"The Jared Box Project is such a wonderful cause that our students can support,” said Sharon Lacue, Beta Sigma board member and Altoona faculty member. “It brings out the best in our students through preparation, collaboration and direct involvement with our local hospitals.”
Said Adam, “It is exciting to think that this one project, the creation of Jared Boxes, will support pediatric patients and families in both central and eastern Pennsylvania. Through this project Beta Sigma exemplifies, ‘One University, geographically dispersed.'"
