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Chamberlain Charlotte Students Highlighted on Local News for Volunteer Efforts for Operation Christmas Child

December 18, 2020 by Kate Rice

It’s the season of giving, and students at Chamberlain University’s Charlotte campus found ways to give back to their community while masking up and social distancing. As nursing students, they are following their calling to care for those in need during the holidays and beyond. Sade Wray, a senior, says, "I’m ready to go wherever I need to, because I want to help care for whoever is in need”

Wray was recently featured in a local news story that highlighted the volunteer work that Chamberlain’s Charlotte campus students had been doing with Operation Christmas Child.

The program is part of Samaritan Purse, a faith-based organization that provides volunteers to work in crisis areas around the world.

Founded in 1993, Operation Christmas Child, has sent wrapped shoeboxes filled with toys, hygiene items, school supplies and basic clothing needs (socks, underwear, etc.) to more than 178 million children in 150 countries around the world.

Chamberlain’s Charlotte campus became involved with the organization through the National Student Nursing Association (NSNA). Wray remembers first participating a few years ago when the program was brought to the attention of the NSNA by a student who thought Chamberlain should get more involved.

Wray jumped at the chance to get involved and give back to the community that has already given her so much.

She cites her faith as having helped her overcome challenges and succeed in nursing school, “I am truly appreciative of my faith and how it has propelled me. That is very important to me.”

Wray was surprised to learn that she had been featured on the news, “[The news outlet] did not tell me if they would use my clip or not. Then a couple of days later I was at work and my manager was like ‘Sade, I heard you were a star now.’”

As news of her appearance spread throughout the Charlotte campus, faculty and administrators began to congratulate her. “I was in a tutoring session with Ms. O’Dell at the Center for Academic Success and she told me how proud she was of me and how poised I had been in the clip.”

This isn’t the first holiday volunteer mission the students at Charlotte’s campus have been on. In October, students along with Professor Rhonda Bridget, RN, MSN, volunteered at Second Harvest Food Bank to help their fellow community members who were feeling the strain of the COVID-19 related economic downturn.

This holiday season, Sade Wray and other students of Chamberlain, Charlotte have been shining examples of what it means to step forward and change the world.

Sade says of her experiences with Chamberlain University, “They gave me a second chance [to become a nurse] after I struggled with a traditional program. They provided me with all the support I needed to succeed – the Center for Academic Success (CAS), SIMCARE CENTER™ and the librarians are amazing. The professors and instructors are amazing.

Chamberlain University showed me that I can do anything I can set my mind to do. And I would tell students considering Chamberlain for their nursing education they will be cared for by Chamberlain from the first day through to their professional careers.”