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Southeastern Community College commencement ceremony marks the end of a year filled with shared joy and loss
Bob Saar
for The Hawk Eye
Evidence of the impact of a year of pandemics over academics was prevalent and well-illustrated ahead of Southeastern Community College s commencement ceremony Thursday by a mother and son who sat quietly on a park bench outside the Burlington Memorial Auditorium, waiting for the signal to enter the building.
Monica Space and her son, Christian Joseph CJ Space were awarded associate of arts degrees Thursday night.
Monica attended SCC back in 2007, but at the start of her 2008 year, 7-year-old CJ had a heart attack and she had to drop out.
Toys for Tots gives away more than 250K toys for Christmas in Burlington
Bob Saar
for The Hawk Eye
There s always a silver lining in the darkest cloud, and Saturday at Memorial Auditorium, hundreds of parents who have been financially hit by COVID-19 shutdowns and layoffs got to see one: Christmas toys for their children.
The local Toys for Tots group had the entire building available for their annual distribution another COVID benefit because normally, the auditorium is busy with holiday events.
Toys for Tots is a program run by the United States Marine Corps Reserve, distributing Christmas toys to children whose parents cannot afford gifts. The program was started in 1947 by Marine Corps Major Bill Hendricks after his wife, Diane, tried to donate a homemade Raggedy Ann doll to a needy child but couldn t find an organization to take it. Maj. Hendricks rounded up some Marine reservists and collected some 5,000 toys in bins placed outside Warner Bros. movie theaters.