Cate Powell (left), a meber of the IUPUI BSW Student Association, and Stephanie Meyers, the president of the association, display donated items given by BSW students

BSW students step up to help others this holiday season

Dec. 19, 2008 - Students may be notoriously short of money, but that didn't stop Indiana University School of Social Work students from donating hundreds of items in Indianapolis and Bloomington to help make the holiday season a little brighter for those in need.

In Indianapolis, Stephanie Meyers, president of the IUPUI Bachelor of Social Work  Student Association and Cate Powell, also a member of the BSW student association, gathered up items donated in recent weeks on the IUPUI campus.

 The association had donation boxes located on the fourth floor of the School of Social Work and held several movie nights in the commons area for people to bring donated items and then watch a movie.

 The non-perishable food items will go to the Brightwood Community Center, an agency that serves people living in the Massachusetts and Sherman avenues. "Cate suggested this one because it's not a really large one and not a lot of people know about it and so it gets overlooked a lot of times in the holiday drives that people do," Meyers explained. The center serves a number of people who don't have transportation, Powell noted. Clothing and other items will go to the Exodus Refuge in Indianapolis.

 In Bloomington, students donated 216 pounds of food that will go to the Hoosier Hills Food Bank "As you know, the food bank is facing unprecedented demand this year so your efforts are appreciated even more," Dr. Katharine Byers, Bloomington  BSW Program Director wrote in an note to students.