February 7, 2017

Elms College caRe vaN receives $1,000 donation from Chicopee Police Department

REGIONAL
Staff report

Police Chief William R. Jebb (right) presents Elms College caRe vaN director, Brother Michael Duffy, with a donation from the police department. (IObserve photo/courtesy of Elms College)

CHICOPEE – Police Chief William R. Jebb and Public Information Officer Michael Wilk visited the College of Our Lady of the Elms recently to present the School of Nursing with a special donation: money the department had raised in a special new fundraiser.

This December, the Chicopee Police Department participated in a fundraising event based on “Movember” (also known as “No-Shave November”) in which the officers were challenged to grow goatees for charity. Department members grew out their facial hair from Nov. 27 through Jan. 1, and they each paid an entry fee of $40.

The department raised money for Chicopee charities because they wanted to serve the citizens of Chicopee rather than national organizations. One of the local organizations they chose to support is the Elms College caRe vaN, a free health clinic on wheels that serves homeless and underserved people of Chicopee.

The mobile clinic offers free healthcare services including blood-pressure checks and monitoring, blood-sugar checks, foot care, episodic first aid, minor wound care and patient education. It also gives nursing students hands-on healthcare experience and allows them to live the Elms College mission of empowering students to effect positive changes in the community and in the world.

Jebb and Wilk presented a check for $1,010 to caRe vaN director Conventual Franciscan Brother Michael Duffy,  assistant professor, coordinator of the Accelerated Second-Degree in Nursing Program; Elms College president, Sister Mary Reap,of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary; and Kathleen Scoble, dean of the School of Nursing.

This donation is significant, Brother Duffy said. “It will pay for gas for the CareVan for an entire year.”

“We were happy to be able to raise money to give back to the community,” Chief Jebb said. “We realize the importance of the Elms caRe vaN, and we hope this donation helps those in our community the van assists.”