CU-Lock Haven honors students participate in service project benefiting Dwell Orphan Care

As part of a semester-long service project last fall, CU-Lock Haven students in Dr. Jody Russell's honors 218 course collected Squishmallows and Legos for the children that Dwell Orphan Care serves.

Dwell is a non-profit organization in Williamsport that provides wrap around support to foster, adoptive and kinship families. The wrap-around support provided includes family support groups; a Made to Celebrate program, which provides birthday packages to children in care; adoption grants; trauma-informed trainings; and Hope Chest Care packages. They also hold pop-ups, in which foster, kinship and adoptive families are provided an opportunity to shop for their children through donations provided by the community. The Squishmallows and Legos the honor students collected went directly to the Holiday Pop-up.

“We are grateful for their generosity, their curiosity and their commitment to making a real difference in the lives of children and families in our community,” a member of the Dwell team said in response to the donation and visit from the CU-Lock Haven honors students.

“The field trip offered me an unforgettable experience to embrace empathy, especially during the holiday season,” one of the student participants said. “It felt extremely rewarding to have a positive effect on the orphan children that Dwell Orphan Care supports. I enjoyed the process of learning what Dwell is all about, creating birthday baskets and organizing the bins in the storage room. I left with a sense of fulfillment, knowing that these efforts contributed to a supportive and joyful environment for the children who might not always have one.”

“This experience inspired me to return to Dwell Orphan Care to complete the honors service-hour requirement,” the student added. “Overall, this field trip was an unforgettable experience that deepened my appreciation for service and strengthened my commitment to contributing to others’ well-being.