On Tuesday, Feb. 23, the KSC Athena Nursing Club hosted a clothing drive to raise donations for the One Hundred Nights Shelter in downtown Keene.
KSC nursing major Renee Blouin said she works with the shelter in a clinical aspect and feels “a personal connection to the shelter.”
Blouin said that it is important to give back to the One Hundred Nights Shelter to “let them know we care for them.”
The Nursing Club said they have a strong sense of civic responsibility and set an excellent example for others to follow.
Nursing Club Member Casey Kelley spoke about the importance of setting this example, “I think it’s important for someone to do something,” Kelly said. “It might as well be the nursing club, because we are going into a field where we help people so we might as well start here.”
The club said they chose to hold a clothing drive because of the recent cold temperatures.
According to the One Hundred Nights Shelter mission statement, the shelter gets its name from “providing emergency shelter to anyone in need on the one hundred potentially coldest nights of the year.”
Nursing Club Member Moira Crowley said that providing people with basic necessities is the first step in helping others.
She said, “I want to help people and I feel like we need to start at the basics.”
When it comes to winter in New Hampshire, warm clothes are basic needs that some people can’t access, she said.
KSC Staff Member Marianne O’Brien said she felt it was important to donate clothing.
“I have a lot, and a lot of people don’t have enough,” O’Brien said.
She added that this is the reason she decided to donate two coats that her son had recently grown out of.
“You tend to forget how lucky you are until you open up your closet to see Twenty coats and realize that some people don’t have any,” O’Brien said.
KSC faculty advisor to the Nursing Club Kathleen Forrister said she agreed with O’Brien.
“What I think the values of [the club] are developing a service style and mindset that is important for a nurse to have, that is caring for not just a patient but a community as a whole,” Forrister said.
Nursing Club members said students can expect to see more activities such as the adopt-a-street program in Keene and the autism awareness event coming up in April.
“The core value we try to get across of the nursing club, as I see it, is kindness,” Kelly said.
James Harvard can be contacted at jharvard@kscequinox.com
