Employees of SunCoke Energy’s Haverhill location donated a pizza lunch for all Vern Riffe School students and staff Wednesday, Dec. 21, the last day before the Christmas break. As a surprise, they also brought gifts for all 61 students and went classroom-to-classroom delivering gift bags full of goodies such as hats, gloves, coloring books, books, and crayons!
Larry Walker, SunCoke Energy’s Human Resource Manager, said the opportunity to serve at Vern Riffe School was an honor and one he wants to see continue throughout the year. SunCoke Energy donated several electronics items to the annual PTO Basket Raffle, which raised almost $4,000 — nearly $1,000 over the PTO’s original goal.
Walker said the company has a long history of “reaching out to the community to donate time and money” and looks forward to working with VRS in the future. Five volunteers played Santa, and then made their way to the cafeteria to serve lunch.
“We are really appreciative of the new relationship we’ve been able to develop with SunCoke throughout the school year,” said VRS Principal Tammy Guthrie. “They’ve been an active partner in assisting us to make the kids’ lives better this year. Their generosity has had a direct impact on the children we serve here at Vern Riffe School.”
Vern Riffe School is the school program of the Scioto County Board of Developmental Disabilities. For more information on VRS or SCBDD, please visit our Facebook page or website at www.SciotoCountyDD.org.