Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Four-D College Helps Feed The Hungry

(SAN BERNARDINO) – The San Bernardino County Food Bank has a lot more bread to give away this week, thanks to the help of 20 students who are studying to become medical assistants at Four-D College, their instructor and their department director.

The contingent from Four-D College recently spent about two hours working with the food bank. Students from both its Colton and Victorville campuses assisted.

“We packed about 10,000 lbs. of bread,” said Cheryl Jerzak, Director of Medical Assisting for Four-D College. “The students loved the sense of community and teamwork we experienced. We hope to do this again in about six months.”

“It was a lot of work, but it was rewarding to know we helped make someone’s holiday season brighter,” said Jason Garcia, one of the participating students from Colton.

Stater Brothers, a frequent contributor to the San Bernardino County Food Bank, donated the bread. The Four-D team’s job was to pick out and discard the small amount of bread that had gone bad, and then to further sort the bread into sweet breads and regular breads.

The San Bernardino County Food Bank relies mainly on volunteers, but 22 more from Four-D College were a welcome addition, said Gerald Wilson, spokesperson for the food bank.

“It would have taken our normal (much smaller and busier) crew a week to pack as much bread as they packed in two hours,” Wilson said. “Their help means the food will get to the hungry people who need it that much faster.”

The San Bernardino County Food Bank serves about 120 locations throughout the county, including some in Needles and other communities on the Arizona border, as well as more than 30 in the city of San Bernardino.

Four-D College provides education in the growing health care field at locations in Colton and Victorville. It offers programs in medical assistant, medical billing and coding, dental assistant, massage therapy, pharmacy technician and vocational nursing.

New courses begin monthly at Four-D College and courses are offered in the morning, afternoon and evening. Call (909) 783-9331 or (760) 962-1325 for more information or go to www.Four-DCollege.com.

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