SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — As part of the station’s ongoing commitment to community service, the students at Seton Hall University’s WSOU-FM just completed a clothing drive for the Our Lady of the Sioux Church on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The clothing will benefit members of the Oglala Lakota community, as well as others on the reservation. The student managers of WSOU collected enough donations to ship seven large boxes of clothing and shoes to Sister Barbara Bogenschutz, the church’s parish life coordinator, who will facilitate distribution.
“From our annual food drive for the Community FoodBank of New Jersey to collecting supplies for area schools to this clothing drive, the students at WSOU understand the importance of giving back,” WSOU general manager Mark Maben said in a press release. “Servant leadership is a core Seton Hall value and one of the things students learn at our station is that radio is about more than entertainment, it’s about community service as well.”
WSOU’s relationship with the Our Lady of the Sioux Church began in 2014, after a staff member participated in a university-organized mission trip to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Seeing a basic necessity that the station could provide, the student suggested that some WSOU T-shirts be donated to the church for distribution to those in need. Since then, the amount and variety of clothing collected by students has grown steadily.
Photos Courtesy of Mark Maben