Gateway Community College’s Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) Honor Society Alpha Xi Theta Chapter collected 526 toiletry items during as part of a service project for the residents of Adelbrook in Cromwell..

Adelbrook provides education and residency for children and adults with autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders, and offers state-of-the-art wrap around residential treatment both on their campus and in the community. Their philosophy is to build on abilities, not disabilities: transforming lives one person at a time.

PTK’s Vice President of Service Deborah Wissner explained, “We discussed collecting gloves or socks or toiletry items for a non-profit. Adelbrook is near and dear to my heart. It is a center for children, or adults, whose behavior makes them impossible to live at home anymore.”

Gateway’s honor society collected body wash, bar soap, toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, conditioner and detangler in donation bins placed throughout the campus.

“Like many others in Phi Theta Kappa, I do have good grades; I am a perfectionist. But unlike many other students, I went back to school after raising a family. My kids are now 21 and they live at Adelbrook and go to school there, which is why it is so near and dear to my heart,” said Deb Wissner.

To be in the honor society, students must have a 3.5 Grade Point Average and have completed 12 college credits. Over the years GCC has inducted over 1000 PTK members. Currently there are eight officers and approximately 20 active members. 

They are like moving targets,” states Susan Swirsky, Senior Advisor of GCC’s Phi Theta Kappa Chapter, since 2003. “The event developed, because our VP of Service found the service activity and we voted on it.  Both of her children go to Adelbrook, and we saw the need. We do one or two service projects a year. We also recently did a sock drive for the homeless.”

Wissner is majoring in business and is working as a paralegal. “I thought, if we are going to do something for a non-profit, we should do this for Adelbrook. We raised over 500 items--shampoo, shower gel and even deodorant for their residents.”

“It was a great feeling delivering the items. They were very welcoming,” Wissner continues. “The residents came out and helped unload. There were about 5 PTK officers who went with me and dropped it off. We were all very excited. A lot of the time departments like DCF help those kids, and it is usually one of the first places to get their funding cut. It was good to give for kids who could really put the items to good use.”

Photo cutline: Deb Wissner, Frank Wissner, Rahteisha Pittman, Kim Alvarez and Tina Jay at Adelbrook.