West Virginia Wesleyan College students teamed up with local middle schoolers to create more than 500 Valentine’s Day cards for residents at seven nursing homes across the region.
Matthew Hatfield, a sophomore from Oceana and a WVWC Service Scholar, launched the card-making project last year as part of his community service. This year, as sophomore class president, he enlisted the class council to expand the effort.
“As sophomore class president, I wanted our class to take on a project that would bring smiles to people all across this part of the state and help make a small difference,” Hatfield said. “This allowed us to not only bring college students together, but also middle school students in helping bring smiles to residents in nursing homes.”
Students at Robert L. Bland Middle School in Lewis County joined Wesleyan students in making the cards. The finished cards were distributed to seven facilities: Serenity, Holbrook, St. Joes, Elkins Rehabilitation, Mountain Memories, Clarksburg Rehabilitation and Clarksburg VA Nursing Facility.
“I did not think we were going to be able to do 500-plus cards, but so many people came together to make this possible,” Hatfield said. “It is nice to know these cards did not just bring smiles to the residents in nursing homes, but seeing students laughing and smiling while being creative with their cards was very rewarding.”
Hatfield credited class representatives Alexis Dickenson, of Lewisburg; Lynzee Hague, of Yantis, Texas; and Katie Shaw, of Charleston, for helping ensure all cards were completed in time for the holiday. He also thanked the West Virginia Wesleyan College Center for Community Engagement and Leadership Development for funding the project.
“Without their help, we would not have been able to reach all seven nursing homes,” he said.
