TJ Sends Love holds donation drive

TJ Sends Loves’ donation drive collected toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss bar soap, school supplies, and children's books for the Medical Care for Children Partnership. The club initially began as an unofficial service group before becoming an official club and taking on larger projects such as the donation drive. “We weren't a nonprofit or an eighth period club. We were just people who met every week and made cards, and then throughout the summer, we collected them. Then we sent them to hospitals, and that's basically how it started,” Chen said. Image courtesy of TJ Sends Love Instagram

TJ Sends Loves’ donation drive collected toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss bar soap, school supplies, and children’s books for the Medical Care for Children Partnership. The club initially began as an unofficial service group before becoming an official club and taking on larger projects such as the donation drive. “We weren’t a nonprofit or an eighth period club. We were just people who met every week and made cards, and then throughout the summer, we collected them. Then we sent them to hospitals, and that’s basically how it started,” Chen said. Image courtesy of TJ Sends Love Instagram

Keertana Senthilkumar, Staff Writer
March 23, 2022

The student-run group TJ Sends Love held a donation drive for the Medical Care for Children Partnership (MCCP) until Feb. 25. They accepted items in drop boxes throughout the school, and offered service hours to those who contributed. 

The MCCP, a nonprofit, assists low income families in Fairfax County by providing various services including medical care, routine dental care, at a reduced cost. 

“[The MCCP] provides the primary care that normally those with insurance would be able to access, but those without insurance usually don’t have the luxury to be able to afford,” TJ Sends Love officer and junior Katelyn Chen said. 

As for the items collected during the drive, they will contribute to care packages for families in the MCCP program. 

“[Families] come for routine visits, so they have little bags that they give to the families with toothbrushes, toothpaste, that kind of thing,” TJ Sends Love officer and junior Kritika Khati said.

TJ Sends Love was created to support health care patients in the summer of 2020. 

“We noticed that there were a lot of initiatives to help health care workers, and not as many initiatives to help health care patients, who were probably spending a lot of time in the hospital. We wanted to do something for those people,” Chen said. 

The club was registered as an official Jefferson club last school year. Students can come to TJ Sends Love at Friday B eighth periods and make cards for healthcare patients and workers. 

“We just donated about 140 cards to Howard University’s pediatrics department. That’s what we’ve focused on for the beginning of the year,” Khati said. 

Even without being a part of TJ Sends Love, students could contribute to the club’s first donation drive to help others.  

“Truthfully, I haven’t been to a TJ Sends Love meeting, but I’m sure I’d contribute to any other drive they have,” junior Khushi Garg said. “But I think it does spread awareness about the club in general.”