Blinn College nursing student sparks widespread donation effort
Ashlee Carter serves as Blinn student representative on Salvation Army B/CS Advisory Board
April 6, 2018
As Blinn College nursing student Ashlee Carter has learned, perhaps no career requires as much compassion and commitment to service as nursing – skills she has put to great effect both inside and outside the classroom.
As a student representative on The Salvation Army Bryan/College Station Advisory Board, Carter recently sparked a widespread donation effort among her classmates, leading to the donation of almost 300 pounds of food to The Salvation Army B/CS food pantry.
“The Salvation Army food pantry provides meals for more than 2,000 individuals each month, and has been struggling to keep enough canned proteins stocked,” said Carter, a second-year student in Blinn’s Associate Degree Nursing Program. “As future medical professionals, I felt this would be a great mission for Blinn’s health science programs to undertake.”
Students and employees from Blinn’s Associate Degree Nursing, Radiologic Technology, Emergency Medical Services, and Dental Hygiene programs collected 292 pounds of canned proteins, such as tuna, chicken, and beef, over the course of one month. A diet rich in protein, Carter said, helps promote wound healing and lowers the risk of infections.
“Many of the citizens The Salvation Army serves do not have the resources to facilitate a balanced diet,” she said. “Blinn has given us the knowledge to serve these individuals, but if they do not know where their next meal is coming from, how are they supposed to implement healthy eating practices into their daily lives?”
Each year in Texas, The Salvation Army provides more than 3.5 million meals through food pantries, meal programs, and community gardens. As a student representative, Carter connects her classmates and instructors to a worthy cause.
“This was a great opportunity for each of us to give what we can to make a big impact,” said Sami Rahman, Director of Simulation and Clinical Labs and Nursing Instructor. “Any contribution – big or small – goes a long way.”
For more information or to volunteer with The Salvation Army, visit www.salvationarmyusa.org.
In 2016, Blinn was named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest accolade an educational institution can receive from the federal government for its commitment to community, service learning, and civic engagement.
In 2015, Blinn was recertified with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s Carnegie Classification, which places Blinn among the nation’s top 5 percent of colleges and universities in terms of documented public service. The Carnegie Classification, reassigned every five years, is the leading framework for recognizing institutional diversity in U.S. higher education for the past five decades.
Blinn’s Service Learning Program, which combines community service with classroom instruction and student club activities, focuses on critical, reflective thinking, and civic responsibility to engage students. Blinn’s Service Learning activities include the Dental Hygiene Program’s annual Give Kids a Smile event in Bryan, which provides exams, X-rays, cleanings, sealants and oral health education to local children without access to regular dental care; EMS, vocational nursing and associate degree nursing students volunteering at local clinics and hospitals; natural science students volunteering at local animal shelters; agricultural students working with Texas Parks and Wildlife and 4-H organizations; social sciences students volunteering at local Democratic and Republican headquarters; and the Buccaneer Big Event, Blinn’s annual day of community service.
