Contact:
Elizabeth Blevins, Director, Office of Communications
Office: (740) 351-3810; FAX: (740) 351-3179; Cell: (740) 464-4854
940 Second Street – Portsmouth, Ohio 45662
E-mail: eblevins@shawnee.edu 
Web site: www.shawnee.edu

            Santa Claus and nearly 90 Shawnee State students and staff arrived at the 14th Street Community Center where more than 100 children were waiting to play and receive Christmas gifts at the Second Annual Christmas on 14th Street event.
            The event started at 1 p.m. and ended at 6 p.m. with dinner for everyone who participated. Each SSU student purchased a gift for the child they were assigned to for the day. Other gifts were donated from a campus-wide toy drive that Mistie Spicer, assistant to the president, and Kelly Hatas and Sarah Lowe, AmeriCorps/Vista staff coordinated as well as gifts donated to the Community Center through their Director Christi Gambill.
            Games, crafts, cookie decorating, bingo and a photo with Santa Claus were available for the children.
Several organizations and community members donated to the event including Union Mills, Sodexho, AHANA and SSU Greeks.
            “We plan to have this event every year,” Lowe said. ““We had a great time with the children and it was a very special day for us.”