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Student Success Council’s last day of clothing drive is March 10.
By Ashley Bailey
sac-ranger@alamo.edu
The Student Success Council’s clothing drive runs through Friday to collect men’s, women’s and children’s clothing and shoes to benefit the Student Advocacy Center’s clothing closet.
Members of the Student Success Council placed empty barrels and fliers around campus so students and faculty can drop off their gently used clothing.
Clean clothing donations can be dropped off at these locations: the first floor of Loftin Student Center, the veterans affairs office on the first floor of Moody Learning Center, the Duran Welcome Center at 1533 N. Main Ave., the second floor of Fletcher Administration Center and the first floor of the nursing complex.
Council President Nicole France wanted to support the center by bringing the idea to the council and ultimately creating a yearlong food and clothing drive.
“After spring break, we will be starting a food drive to help keep the center stocked,” France said.
France said she was shocked to learn the number of students in poverty after a campus study conducted by social work program Coordinator Lisa Black found that 44 percent here are going through food insecurity.
“I knew there were some but not that many,” France said.
The closet is part of the Student Advocacy Center’s newly renovated Store, a campus resource that includes a food pantry, book discount program, hygiene products and other necessities for people going through socioeconomic hardship.
The center offers free case management services to students, staff and faculty.
The center has been serving the campus community since September and hosted a grand opening of its newly renovated store in February.
The Store is a classroom-sized pantry with shelves of food and clothing.
In just 16 days, the center has helped more than 100 people this semester struggling with poverty, Black said.
Organizations on campus have come together to support the store by hosting donation drives.
Black opened the center as a resource to provide basic necessities such as food, clothing and case management services to the campus community.
She said a lot of students are forced to drop out because they aren’t meeting innate level of needs.
“According to Maslow’s theory, there’s a hierarchy of needs that everyone must meet in order to function properly,” Black said. “Students who are hungry, homeless or going through a financial crisis will find it hard to learn because they aren’t meeting their innate needs.”
Black says she wants to be a broken record about raising awareness of poverty.
“You have to find your passion and be a broken record,” she said.
Although the council’s drive will end March 10, food and clothing donations are always welcome in Room 323 of Chance.
For more information, call 210-486-1003 or email Black at lblack13@alamo.edu.
