The UT Martin chapter of the Student Nurses Association (SNA) is partnering with multiple campus organizations for their Back to School Bash, an initiative to collect school supplies for local students.
The Back to School Bash is a collaborative effort between SNA, Student Government Association (SGA), Rotaract, Student Tennessee Education Association (STEA) and Call Me Mister.
They will be collecting items such as loose-leaf paper, 3-ring binders, Papermate erasers, mechanical pencils, colored pencils, markers, crayons, glue sticks, highlighters, graph papers, construction papers, 1-subject notebooks, compositions notebooks, red ink pens, black ink pens, pocket folders, Expo markers, index cards, Post-it notes, gallon and quart sized Ziplock bags, paper towels, Kleenex, Germ-X, Lysol wipes, and travel size hygiene products.
Bethany Miller, SNA President and Level 2 Nursing major from Huntington High School, spoke on why this drive was important to her and her organization. "One of our organization advisors knows someone who works with family and child services. From them, we learned that just in this county and the surrounding counties alone, at least ten children are pulled out of their houses a week, and most times, the children are not able to bring a majority of their belongings with them."
This led the organization to host Packs for Pals just last semester, collecting clothes and hygiene products for children being displaced from their homes.
"With us knowing this, the same thing can be the case for some students when they start school. One issue we have is the fact that our school starts later than they do. So we decided to continue on with this idea and we would just deliver the supplies to the schools in the county later in the semester."
Collection boxes will be set up around campus until August 31. Collection boxes are currently set up in Gooch Hall, Humanities, and in the University Center.
There will also be a table set up collecting supplies in the University Center from August 28-31.