'College Town: Holy Cross team donates filled book bags for kids in court'

Telegram & Gazette

The College of the Holy Cross’ women’s field hockey team delivered more than 50 book bags filled with school supplies for children coming through Worcester Juvenile Court. The children, whether as victims or innocent bystanders in stressed families, often lack many material things, including basic school supplies and book bags. Featured in the Telegram & Gazette, the players were asked to assemble the bags by the Court-Appointed Special Advocates for Children (CASA). The non-profit organization is committed to speaking for the best interests of abused and neglected children in the Worcester County Courts.

The court has handled more than 1,100 child abuses cases in the past 21 months and more than 2,000 children have been placed in foster care, Juvenile Court Judge Carol A. Erskine, told the Telegram.

The Holy Cross players have been called on to help CASA in the past. Kathryn Nutting ’17 shared with the Telegram how the players have donated more than 1,000 books to the children’s library at the court. “For both projects, we incorporated it into our sport,” said Nutting. “We did a school support drive at two of our home games.” She describes how the project was very special to her, her mother having worked for CASA for 10 years.

The book bags were filled with essential school supplies for both younger and older children, such as crayons and glues sticks or notebooks and pencil cases. “You might not think that it’s a huge thing,” Erskine said, “but it’s a huge thing for these kids.”

This "Holy Cross in the news" item is by Emma Collins '16