Perrysburg teen puts together kids packages with care

11/9/2011

Angela Pantorno, inspired by a presentation at her church on a local women's shelter, decided to find a way to help.

As part of her Girl Scout project, the Perrysburg High School junior decided to make care packages for children of battered women staying at the Cocoon Shelter in Bowling Green.

"I thought it was a good cause," Miss Pantorno, 16, said. "I wanted to do something with children."

She started a donations drive at Zoar Lutheran Church to collect supplies and began assembling care packages filled with math games, activity books, and flash cards for kids.

She said she hopes to keep collecting supplies to restock the bags.

"It's something that's able to continue on," said Miss Pantorno, who received the Douglas C. Meyer Distinguished Youth Service Award during the shelter's annual dinner.

At the shelter, the games and puzzles in the care packages can help repair the relationship between families.

It's a positive activity for a mother to do with her children, Deidra Bennett, the shelter's special project coordinator, said.

"Oftentimes when families comes to the shelter, the mother-child bond is under so much stress because of all the abuse in the home," Ms. Bennett said.

She called the teen's project a success.

"It's way beyond our expectations," Ms. Bennett said.