NSI students feel love, compassion of community

Students at Normative Services saw tangible evidence of the love and compassion of the Sheridan community this Christmas, thanks to a community present drive spearheaded by Sheridan resident Megg Guthrie.

Clayton Carr, who’s executive director of NSI, a private non-profit program dedicated to helping adolescents dealing with behavioral and emotional problems, said Guthrie started the drive to collect presents starting in late October or early November.

Carr said presents started arriving at NSI around Dec. 20 – and, he said, “just kept coming.”

He said the donors started with around 50 families and eventually involved 80 families that provided gifts.

He said at the start, NSI was expecting three or four presents for each of NSI’s slightly over 50 students, and the final tally was around six or eight presents for each.

In addition, Carr said, Carla Trier and the Sheridan Foster Parent Exchange provided a pop-up store where all of NSI’s students were given a large selection from which they could choose up to four gift items.

Carr said a small number of NSI students did manage to go home for the holidays, but over 40 spent that time at the Sheridan facility, and the gifts from the Sheridan community helped make that time a little brighter.