EUTAWVILLE — The inspiration for St. James-Gaillard Elementary School’s Adopt-A-Child program was born over an afternoon of coffee and conversation. When representatives from the school met with local church leaders to discuss community needs, they realized they didn’t have to look any further than their own school yard.

“We recognized there were children right here among us that could benefit from a helping hand from our community family,” Principal Michelle Wilson said.

The love offering collected by area churches that first year raised more than $1,000 in a resounding answer to that need, said science coach Shelia Washington, one of this year’s co-chairs of the program.

Other donors followed their lead, including the local Kiwanis Club, the Tri-County Regional Chamber of Commerce, Lake Marion High School’s ROTC and individuals in the community. Their contributions join those from the school staff, teachers and area churches each year to make a marked difference in local children’s lives, said first-grade teacher Mary Lynn Owen, the other co-chair for this year’s program.

Now in its seventh successful year, the Adopt-A-Child project is providing gifts of clothes, toys, school supplies and uniforms to more than 50 children this year.

Candidates for the program are nominated by school staff, including Wilson, guidance counselor Carrie Green and the program’s co-chairs Owen and Washington and are chosen from all grade levels, Washington said.

In one instance, an individual adopted not only the student, but the student’s family as well, including a 6-month-old brother, Wilson said.

“It was an extra blessing to be able to reach out to the extended family and to know we’re helping take care of our future students already,” she said.

And the positive results of the project are readily visible.

“It’s so wonderful to see a glow in a child who never had a school uniform before — now wearing a bright new uniform,” Washington said. “It’s a huge boost to their self-esteem, and just knowing someone cares about them as an individual really makes a difference in a child’s life.”

Not bad for an idea that began when a little group got together to drink coffee, brainstorm and talk about how they might help the community.

The group is now formally called the School and Community Partnership Committee, and it not only organizes the Adopt-A-Child program each year, but also meets on a continuing basis to come up with new ways to get members of the community involved in the school and the school involved with the community.

Current committee leaders, in addition to Owen and Washington, include kindergarten teacher Barbara McNeely and first-grade teacher Barbara J. White.

“We’d love to have as many members of the public that are interested attend the sessions,” Owen said.

For more information, call any of the committee leaders at 803-492-7927.

T&D Correspondent Diane Gainer can be reached by e-mail at bcdthinktank@yahoo.com.

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