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MUSC Public Safety brings Good Cheer to crime victims by Mary Helen Yarborough Public Relations For more than a decade, dozens of crime victims and the often forgotten poor have been able to rely on members of the MUSC Department of Public Safety and its 60 employees to rescue Christmas from otherwise bareness and despair.   Again, this year, MUSC’s officers seek the generosity and support of the MUSC family—staff, faculty and students—to pitch in a few dollars, crafts, paintings, and just about anything that could be auctioned off this fall, or go toward providing Charleston families with food, gifts and a great deal of cheer.   “We’re looking for goods, money, artwork, gift certificates,” said Leslie Hayes, an MUSC public safety officer. “Think of gifts given to you that, quite frankly, don’t suit your taste. You could pass those along to us to help others.”   In the 13 years that MUSC’s Public Safety has been involved in helping violent crime victims, about 50 families have benefited. In 2005, Good Cheer raised more than $2,242 to help eight families that included 20 children.   As part of Good Cheer, MUSC Public Safety also collects toys and goods for its angel tree. Again this year, MUSC’s Public Safety will hold a fish fry Oct. 11. Advanced purchased tickets will cost $5, or $6 at the door.   A silent auction also will be held Nov. 8 on the portico of the Horseshoe.    “Every penny we raise goes directly to the families. Not a cent goes to administration or even for the fish, which is donated by one of our staff members,” said Bob Waite, MUSC deputy police chief.   Hayes also said that the beneficiaries differ each year, and names of victims are compiled from parole and probation records and MUSC's National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center.   “We help people who are forgotten; people who every other agency hasn’t supported, or who are not on anybody else’s wish list,” Waite said.   The angel tree and silent auction collection point will be located at Public Safety’s office at 101 Doughty St. For information, call 792-2261.     Friday, July 21, 2006 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.