The Paper Bridges Club is dedicated to supporting orphans by sending needed items to foster care centers worldwide, despite Covid limitations.

The school’s Paper Bridges Club is a chapter of a larger non-profit organization that guides the club on what to do to support the overall group. Their main focus is to send letters filled with love and encouragement to children in orphanages and foster care centers all over the world. “Our school’s partner orphanage is HORAC orphanage in Nepal. The people in our club benefit too because they learn the perks of giving back,” club president and junior Carolyn Wang said.

Right now, Paper Bridges is focusing on sending face masks to foster care centers in rural parts of the country like Texas, Wyoming and Illinois. Another priority is donating books and educational materials to foster care centers. “We’re planning to send the books to a local foster system in Baltimore,” Wang said.

To donate to this club, people can go to the Paper Bridges website where they can find a GoFundMe link with a $3,000 goal that is set up specifically for shipping costs for masks. A Chipotle fundraiser is also being set up. “You can donate books in the book drive coming up in November/December,” Wang said.

Due to the Coronavirus, letters aren’t being sent out right now. “The letter writing used to be a lot easier to do but now we have to figure out the logistics of it,” vice president and junior Ethan Fayne said.
Leaders Wang and Fayne started this club in 2019 after hearing about the national non-profit. “We decided to start the club because there wasn’t anything like this at Wootton and I wanted to start a club where people would have a fun time helping the community,” Wang said.

The club is planning to meet once a month on Mondays at around 3 p.m. with their first meeting on Oct. 26. “[The leaders] do a lot on their own, which is what I want it to be because it is their club,” club sponsor and English teacher Madeleine Osgood said.

Meetings would normally be held in Osgood’s room at school, but because of virtual learning, they’re now held over Zoom. The club is always open to welcoming new members and is currently accepting students from every grade on a rolling basis. The club now has over 150 members, including 30 new freshmen. “I joined because it looked like a lot of fun to be involved and I think it’s a great and different way to get involved in the community,” sophomore Jessica Winson said.