Members Of St. Joseph's Prep Fathers' Club Distribute Desks To Families In Need In Effort To Help Students With Virtual Learning During Pandemic
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Eyewitness News has a follow up to a heart-warming story that we first brought you last weekend. Members of the St. Joseph's Prep Fathers' Club have distributed the desks they made to families in need.
The desks were distributed in an effort to help children with virtual learning during the pandemic.
"We've just been cranking them out making a lot of desks. Me and my dad made 12, 12 desks," freshman Jack McKenna said.
A school desk can be many things, but for the St. Joe's Prep Fathers' Club, they became an opportunity.
"We're all in need right now, in different ways," one father said. "To learn that everyone needs a helping hand whether you're giving it or getting it puts them on track for the rest of their lives to give back."
So the club's fathers and sons put their heads together and started building.
"In North Philadelphia, there are so many students taking on virtual learning without their own dedicated space," Eric Woods said.
Over several weeks, the club built nearly 60 school desks from start to finish.
And on Saturday, they opened their arms to the community around 18th Street and Girard Avenue to give them away.
Robin Hale-Garland's daughter Rhema spends her school days studying on beds and folding chairs.
"Oh it's a beautiful thing," Hale-Garland said. "It's gonna change a lot. It'll help keep the books steady. Have a stable place to sit at."
Rhema says it has been hard to pay attention since she has been working in uncomfortable places and hopes her new desk helps her get comfortable.
"This has been a tough year for us," Hale-Garland said. "But I said anything I can do to help her out with virtual learning I was all for it."
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