VGCC Criminal Justice students collect Bears for Kids in Need

Criminal Justice Technology students at Vance-Granville Community College recently completed a service project to help children caught up in difficult situations. Students donated a total of 275 teddy bears to the sheriff’s departments in the four counties served by VGCC — Vance, Granville, Franklin and Warren — and to the Henderson Police Department and the local Guardian ad Litem program. Law enforcement officers and other professionals can give the bears to children they encounter when they respond to crime scenes and domestic violence incidents. “This is our first year doing this particular project,” said Angela Gardner-Ragland , head of the VGCC Criminal Justice program . She said the project coincided with the October observance of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. “In tragic situations, a teddy bear can break the ice or comfort a child, hopefully reducing the trauma they experience or putting them at ease,” said Criminal Justice instructor Andrea Ferguson. Ferguson, Gardner-Ragland and instructor Tim Robinson supervised the effort.

Above, front row, from left, Wynona Thomas of the Guardian ad Litem office in Henderson, students Natasha Durham, Tanita Jefferson and Laura Bisogno, all of Henderson; Sgt. L.Q. Watkins of the Vance County Sheriff’s Office and Lt. Irvin Robinson of the Henderson Police Department; second row, from left, students Derek Claiborne of Bullock, Vanessa Hicks and Quentin Brown, both of Henderson; Jason Dunkin of Oxford and Eugene Burrell of Henderson; third row, from left, Walter Rowe, Dane Williams and Tyler Norwood, all of Henderson; and top row, from left, VGCC Director of Applied Technologies and Public Service Angela Gardner-Ragland, with Criminal Justice instructors Tim Robinson and Andrea Ferguson.