Pharmacy Technician College Students at Cleveland West Get Creative for a Good Cause

Cleveland West Pharmacy Tech College Students Have Fun While Packaging Their Candle Melts

Five of our Cleveland West (North Olmsted) Pharmacy Technician students, led by Remington College graduate and current instructor Ms. Stacey Oberg, recently put their spare time to great use in an effort to raise money for holiday gifts to children at the University Hospital Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio.

Pharmacy Technician Students Show Their Ingenuity to Raise Money

Their concept was simple: Create hand-made “candle melts” and sell them to fellow students and staff to raise money for toys.  Candle melts are colorful, scented pieces of wax that can be melted with a tea light in a wax burner to release fragrance to a room.  They can be found in retail candle outlets for $1 to $3 per melt and are especially popular during the holiday season.

A Team Effort at Remington College in Cleveland

Cleveland West Pharmacy Tech Student at Work Melting Candle Wax

To get started, Ms. Oberg and a team of five Pharmacy Tech students purchased holiday-themed candy molds, pure bees wax, wax coloring, and holiday scents.  Then they got to work creating the candle melts by melting the bees wax and adding holiday colors and scents.

Once the melts were made, the students again teamed up to create packages of candle melts in cellophane bags, tied with curling ribbon, which they sold for $2 each.

To accommodate those who may not already have a wax burner, they created bundled packages containing several candle melts and a burner, which they sold for $4 each. They made a total of 300 candle melt packages. Then, again in true team spirit, the students took turns manning the candle melt table to sell their creations to fellow students and staff.

Hard Work in the Pharmacy Lab Pays Off

Pharmacy Tech Student at Cleveland West with Candle Melt Setups

The students earned a total of $725 from the sale of the 300 candle melt packages.  The proceeds went to purchase toys and items on the wish lists of children in the Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, part of the University Hospitals (UH) network.

Ms. Oberg stated, “The response from our Remington College community was overwhelming, and UH Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital was beyond appreciative of our efforts.”

To the students who accompanied her to drop off the children’s toys at the hospital, Ms. Oberg had these inspiring words to say: “No matter what you are feeling on Christmas morning, good or bad, always remember that you had a hand in putting a smile on a very sick child’s face this holiday season.”

Pharmacy Technician Student Reflects on the Experience

Cleveland college student Damien Thompson stated: “This was such a rewarding experience for me; from working with fellow classmates in creating the melts, to selling them to other students and staff, and finally to presenting the gifts to Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital.  It was all done with such joy and love.  It was great to know that we, as students, were able to do something for such a great cause.

I cannot thank my fellow classmates, the staff at Remington College, and the Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital for the amount of joy I received from participating in this fundraiser.”

Featured in the photos:
Cleveland West Pharmacy Technician students Pearl Bush, Julie Ponton, Teresa Hollinger, Damien Thompson