Religion News

DEARBORN — Residents of Henry Ford Village in Dearborn continue proving the maxim, ‘it’s better to give than receive.’When the resident-led Protestant Women’s Guild announced the ninth annual school kit drive in July, members hoped their friends and neighbors at the retirement community would warmly embrace the project.They did, and according to Corinne O’Brien, guild member and project chair, that meant guild members had enough supplies to assemble 710 school kits that they donated to three local charities to distribute to children in the inner-Detroit area.“We provided 200 kits to World Medical Relief, 354 kits to the Central Detroit Christian Ministries and 156 kits to Friendship House of Hamtramck,” said Darlene Ramus, guild chair. “The response was great and everyone enjoyed the happiness of assembling the kits and contributing to the needs of our area children.”She added the group met several times in August to assemble the kits. Each contained pocket folders, theme books, writing and craft supplies, rulers, scissors and stickers.They packaged the items in two-gallon zip-lock bags and then packed the kits into dozens of cartons for delivery.“The School Supply Drive bypassed all expectations,” O’Brien said. “The Protestant Women’s Guild thanks all our generous residents for their donations and those who did the shopping, those who opened all those little packages and of course those who helped pack the kits.”The Protestant Women’s Guild at Henry Ford Village hosted its first school kit drive in 2001, with 50 school kits assembled for World Medical Relief.