Nursing students in a giving mood

San Antonio mothers and their children who are in crisis, as well as some undergraduate nursing students, will be the recipients of gifts from students in the School of Nursing this holiday season.

Thanks to a brainstorm by graduating senior Lily Gonzalez, she and her fellow graduates will be offering some of the incoming undergraduates a helping hand with first-semester expenses. Many of the seniors have decided to donate their white lab coats and two-piece uniforms, complete with orange patches, to new students arriving in January who are faced with clinical rotations at off-campus sites. The rotations begin almost immediately and require the wearing of the official whites.

"Most of us were pretty poor coming into the school, and I for one would have appreciated getting a free lab coat with the orange patch already sewn on it!" Gonzalez said.

Dr. Carol Binzer, associate dean for students, agreed to be the collection point for the outfits. Incoming students will be able to find the freebies, complete with notes sharing words of wisdom from their former owners, in the student body organizations office of the school when they arrive for orientation Jan. 16.

On another front, students led by the Student Nurses Association and its campus president, Amanda Wallace, have been collecting toys to donate to the Battered Women’s Shelter of Bexar County, which, during the holiday sea-son, often fills to capacity with children and mothers who have fled their homes because of domestic violence. The small, but effective, collection effort turned up lots of toys, clothes, infant items and books to offer some cheer and comfort to the fractured families spending their holidays away from home.