By: Ella Kenny
Staff Writer
Penn State Altoona welcomes the Winter Warmth Drive as it is the first time it is brought to campus. Katerina Fischer organized this drive along with six Sheetz Fellows students that participated in the project.
Fischer is the Coordinator of Student Entrepreneurship Programs and Penn State Altoona.
This project has been in the works all semester. “Sheetz Fellows are split into groups to work on collaborative projects that benefit Penn State Altoona students, alumni and the local community,” says Fischer.
The students will be collecting sizes of warm winter clothing from adult XS-XXXL.
Any Penn State Altoona student in need will be able to get winter coats, sweatshirts, hats, gloves, scarves.
Not only will warm clothing be collected but they will also be collecting new pens, pencils, highlighters, markers, sticky notes, notebooks, paper clips, binder clips and binders.
Penn State Altoona student Brooke Lauver says “The bins are located in the Sheetz Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence, Adler Athletic Complex, Hawthorn IT area, all residence halls and the Devoriss building:
“The other part of this project is the students holiday card-making events around campus. The holiday cards made at these events will be distributed to local Veterans and nursing facilities during the month of December,” says Fischer.
Although this is the first year that the drive is taking place, students a part of the Winter Warmth Drive are looking for a good outcome.
“We want every student to know that we are here to help them and want no student to not have warm winter gear this winter,” says Fischer.
Fischer states, “The students plan to distribute over 700 holiday cards to three different nursing facilities as well as the VA Hospital during the first week of December.”
“I have been loving the opportunity to help out with this project. It is very rewarding knowing that what I am doing may help a student in need,” says Lauver
There are collection boxes set up in multiple different locations on campus. Each week, The Sheetz Fellows go around to gather the items that were donated into each of the boxes.
Penn State Altoona students were allowed to begin visiting the various locations on November 21 to gather school supplies and Winter Warmth.
“The focus of this drive is to support Penn State Altoona students and these locations are not open to the general public,” says Fischer