By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
The Easter bunny has decided to take on a different form this year: that of the voices locals hear every morning on the radio.
Armed with bags of chocolate-covered, cavity-causing goodies and tools to help keep the dentist happy, employees from WQEL/WBCO and Crawford County Now descended on the offices of Children’s Services.
Andy Nigh, administrator with the Child and Family Unit at Crawford County Job and Family Services, was very appreciative of the bags of candy, chocolate-covered raisins, and – ironically – toothbrushes that employees of WQEL/WBCO and Crawford County Now delivered to his offices Monday morning. Though the conference rooms at Job and Family Services usually resemble Santa’s workshop during Christmastime thanks to the generous donations by local groups and businesses, Nigh said other holidays during the year often get overlooked.
The idea to make sure a few extra kids have a happy Easter this weekend came in large part from afternoon DJ Jane Whitney and station manager Jason Kester.
“The reason I thought of the Children’s Services for the Easter goodies is because I know there is probably a lot of kids that don’t get an Easter basket or have an Easter holiday at all and this might just put a little bit of a smile on their face to know the Easter Bunny didn’t forget about them,” explained Whitney.
The subject matter hit very close to home for Whitney, who has a young daughter of her own.
“It’s horrible when you think about so many kids that don’t get to enjoy any type of holiday, whether it’s Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, anything like that,” Whitney said. “So that’s really important to me as a mom and as a person in our society and our community. I just thought we should share and put some smiles on kids’ faces this Easter.”
“This is one of the many ways we’re trying to give back to the community here at the radio stations WBCO/WQEL and Crawford County Now,” station manager Jason Kester said. “Easter is kind of one of those holidays that I think gets forgotten.”
The giving and volunteer spirit always comes out around Christmas, Kester explained, but Easter somehow falls by the wayside.
“There are some kids out there that don’t get an Easter basket,” Kester said. “A lot of people take that for granted and we wanted to make sure that all those kids in Crawford County that need these baskets will at least have something in their baskets Easter morning.”