Student Nurses Association? Christmas Ideas?

Nursing Students General Students

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Specializes in NICU and travel nursing.

Anyone do anything last year or have ideas this year? We are having a meeting tomorrow and I was seeing if you guys had any ideas. Some people brought up going to nursing homes or something, but its really hard when you dont have alot of time. We want to donate gifts or something like toys for tots...any ideas??

~jackie

Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

A coat drive, since winter's coming.

Canned food drive.

Raising money and donating it to a charity.

Going to a nursing home would be a great idea but i know what you mean about time. I remember one school kinda of did an Adopt-a-Resident thing, where they got the first name, age, size, sex, etc of a resident in dire need of clothes, and bought them a whole outfit. When i think about it, a lot of the residents got sweatpants, sweatshirts, and socks. The whole outfit was typically 15 dollars or under.

And sometimes, if you buy a mass amount of those items, a store might give a significant discount, once they find out what it's for.

We called a local Catholic Church and they gave us the name of a family who had just arrived from Mexico- there was an expecting Mom, a Father and a son with kidney disease to get Christmas for. The Priest gave us the sizes and wishes. We passed around a list and people signed up for stuff like shoes and sweaters. In the end we had a ton of toys and stuff for the new baby. I got to help take it over to the house, it was a great experience.

Another option- would be to make up some packages for nurses serving overseas. I was in Sudan last Christmas- it was very difficult to be away from my family- especially because it was hotter than heck. I got a package that totally cheered me up: A pack of playing cards, a new novel, a new t-shirt (when they get washed on washboards, stuff wears out fast), fancy soap, nail polish, and a few magazines. If you want to do that, I can give you an address.

Anything you do of course will be appreciated!!!!

Happy Holidays- I LOVE Christmas!

Our student nurses association in NH "adopts" 2 families for christmas, run a coat drive, and volunteer at a local transitional program for single mothers who have decided to go to college.

Specializes in Public Health, DEI.

I always like participating in "adopt a family" type drives. I've been involved in a number of these over the years. Typically, the group will be given the names and ages of family members, along with identified needs and interests. Each of us will buy either one or two gifts for our assigned members. One place I worked had a policy where everyone would get "something to eat, something to read, something to play with (or, for older kids, something like a CD or new jewelry, etc)" and then the family as a whole would get a food basket or supermarket gift certificate.

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