Students Gather Christmas Blankets for Elderly

By Holly Wise, Silver City Sun-News

December 8, 2008

The Silver High Student Council is pitching in to make sure that every resident in the nursing homes in Silver City has a Christmas blanket this year. Every year, the student council picks a community project in which to participate, and this year, the residents will be the fortunate recipients.

According to Kathy Gojkovich, a high school sponsor of the project, there are 165 residents from Millie's Assisted Living Center, Fort Bayard Medical Center, the Beehive Home and Silver City Care Center.

"Most children are taken care of in one way or another and families," she said. "But the older people in the rest homes who are there and have no one are the ones we wanted to focus on." 

The student council is collecting blankets from the students and staff at the high school and are set to deliver them on Thursday.

"We're starting to get in more now," said Gojkovich.

She said she's hoping the students will be generous in their giving.

"Kids are understanding; they have grandmas and grandpas who they can equate that with and they may even have someone in the rest home."

One student is working at Western Bank in Silver City and when word of the student council's endeavor made it to the bank, some unexpected help arrived.

The branches in Lordsburg and Silver City have donated money to help the project.

"We are thankful to Western Bank for sponsoring any that we don't get," said Gojkovich.

The student council usually has a winter community project it does, said Gojkovich. For Thanksgiving, the students did a food drive and have participated in Operation Christmas Boxes in the past. In January, they are planning Pennies for Patients, a fundraiser in conjunction with the Leukemia Foundation. 

"I think (community service) is very important," said Gojkovich. "They need to know that it's not always about them; we do have people in the community who need assistance."

In the past, students have visited Fort Bayard Medical Center once a month and visited with residents.

"When we did go to Fort Bayard monthly, they really came away feeling good about themselves," she said. "I think that's the most important thing, because they did something that was giving of themselves and were rewarded intrinsically."

"If you're nice to other people, karma comes back to you," she added.

Community members who would like to donate can do so by dropping blankets off at the school office by Wednesday.

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