LBI fraternity helps needy
The Phi Beta Lambda business fraternity at Laurel Business Institute in Uniontown has set out to go beyond the call of duty this holiday season by giving aid and comfort not only to the troops abroad, but also to several of the children and elderly of Fayette County. Phi Beta Lambda (PBL), reactivated in 2002, began Mission Holiday Help Out as part and parcel of a statewide competition that the Laurel Business Institute (LBI) enters each year with several of the local colleges and universities.
“They were only required to do two types of community service for their project,” said Joanne Meese.
“They chose the troops as their external project, which is number one on everyone’s list, then decided that their school was also their community and chose LBI for their internal project.”
Meese and Colleen Lancaster are advisers to the PBL members.
Sherry Harden, fraternity president, and Courtney Fisher, vice president, along with several PBL members, organized and implemented a variety of operations during their holiday mission – a mission that took them six weeks to complete.
Through Operation Bags of Love, the fraternity is sending small bags of toys to the emergency room at Uniontown Hospital to brighten an otherwise traumatic experience. More bags of this kind also are being sent to the Salvation Army.
As part of Operation Blanket Bundles, they made 14 blankets to be given to residents at Laurel Ridge Skilled Nursing Center and Lafayette Manor. Materials were donated by the Wal-Marts in Uniontown and Connellsville.
For Operation Warm Hands, students and faculty decorated a tree in the LBI cafeteria with warm hats, scarves and mittens. The snuggly items are to be given to the Salvation Army for children in the area who will need warm clothes.
Operation Holiday’s Overseas wrapped up the fraternity’s holiday mission in a big way. In fact, to complete project, they had to ask for aid from Brownie Troop 4066 in California and a church youth group known as Bible Boot Camp at Gospel Center Church in Markleysburg.
The fraternity collected and sent more than 250 pounds of much-needed items to troops overseas.
The items include music, candy, toiletries, dental hygiene, games, stationery, books, fly strips, Kool-Aid, and the list goes on. LBI faculty and staff members donated the money for the postage.
In addition, Phi Beta Lambda has “adopted” five local soldiers to who now are serving in Iraq. They are Senior Airman Kristy Caster of California; 1st Lt. Braden Hurley of California, Sgt. Gina Rhodes of Carmichaels, Sgt. Nicole Headlee of Waynesburg and 1st Lt. Louis M. Fabrizi of Pittsburgh.
Phi Beta Lambda will be continuing Operation Holiday’s Overseas for their adopted charges by collecting in January for the Easter holiday shipment.
For more information, call Meese at 724-439-4900.