Chicopee Police Department Donates $1,010 to Elms College caRe vaN

CHICOPEE — Chicopee Police Chief William Jebb and Public Information Officer Michael Wilk visited Elms College this week to present the School of Nursing with a special donation.

This December, the Chicopee Police Department participated in a new fund-raising event based on ‘Movember’ (also known as ‘No-Shave November’) in which the officers were challenged to grow goatees for charity. Department members grew out their facial hair from Nov. 27 through Jan. 1, and they each paid an entry fee of $40.

The department raised money for Chicopee charities because it wanted to serve the citizens of Chicopee rather than national organizations. One of the local organizations it chose to support is the Elms College caRe vaN, a free health clinic on wheels that serves homeless and underserved people in Chicopee.

The mobile clinic offers free healthcare services including blood-pressure checks and monitoring, blood-sugar checks, foot care, episodic first aid, minor wound care, and patient education. It also gives nursing students hands-on healthcare experience and allows them to live the Elms College mission of empowering students to effect positive changes in the community and in the world.

Jebb and Wilk presented a check for $1,010 to caRe vaN director Br. Michael Duffy, assistant professor, coordinator of the Accelerated Second Degree in Nursing Program, and conventual Franciscan friar; Elms College President Mary Reap; and Kathleen Scoble, dean of the college’s School of Nursing.

This donation is significant, Duffy said. “It will pay for gas for the caRe vaN for an entire year.”

Added Jebb, “we were happy to be able to raise money to give back to the community. We realize the importance of the Elms caRe vaN, and we hope this donation helps those in our community the van assists.”