Krista Marsh, Jennifer Arlow, Elizabeth Whitten, and Takyra White, all senior nursing students in their final semester at Georgia Southern University, recently turned a class project into a real-world intervention to help those in need.
Tasked with selecting a community and creating an intervention plan, they chose to support "Bulloch County residents without access to basic health and hygiene needs."
The group, inspired to go beyond their coursework, partnered with Southeast Bulloch High School’s flag football team, led by Head Coach Marci Cochran, and Statesboro Pediatric Dentistry to gather essential items. Statesboro Pediatric Dentistry donated oral hygiene products, while the high school team assembled 100 hygiene bags with support from team members and their parents. In total, 140 hygiene bags were distributed at the Statesboro First United Methodist Church soup kitchen on November 9.
Each bag included toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, hair combs, deodorant, pads, tampons, hand sanitizer, band-aids, and wash rags, with laundry detergent samples available as requested.
Nursing students from the Black Student Nursing Association (BSNA) volunteered to assist in distributing items, taking vital signs, and spending quality time with attendees. The event had an impressive turnout, with 168 hot meals served, significantly higher than the typical 75-90 meals.
The group hopes community members will continue supporting the effort by donating essential clothing items to the church, particularly warm clothing for the upcoming colder months. They stress that these clothing donations do not need to be new or brand-name but should include warm items such as sweatshirts, jackets, long pants, socks, and blankets, which are urgently needed as winter approaches.
“Take those trash bags and boxes full of clothes that you’ve been meaning to donate for months and bring them to the church,” Marsh said. “There are people of all ages who come to the soup kitchen who would be tremendously grateful for any clothing donations.”
Statesboro First United Methodist Church is located at 101 S. Main St. in Statesboro. Office hours are Monday-Thursday from 9:00am-4:00pm and Friday from 9:00am-12:00pm.