While steering through the COVID-19 pandemic, officials from the University of Southern Mississippi noticed that one particular demographic on campus - the international students - seem to struggle the most financially as a a result of the virus.
Given that, three organizations - the USM Association of Office Professionals, Sigma Alpha Lambda Honor Society and the USM Staff Council - have partnered to begin the “Blessings in a Backpack” program. Through that initiative, university and community members are encouraged to drop off donations of school supplies at select sites; backpacks will then be stuffed with the supplies and delivered to the international students.
“We saw they were the most adversely affected, in terms of food insecurity, as well as not having any spending cash,” said Jennifer Lewis, who serves on the three aforementioned organizations. “They can only work on campus, and all the countries that they come from are basically countries that depend a lot on tourism.
“As a result of that, their parents are seeing economic slowdowns, and haven’t been able to assist them as much as they usually would.”
The following items are needed for the drive and will be accepted until Aug. 20: notebooks, binders, blue books, bullet journals, highlighters, index cards, loose-leaf paper, markers, pencils, pens, reusable masks, small dry erase boards, transparent files, umbrellas, and wet wipes.
Collection boxes for those items can be found in Asbury Hall by Freshens, Cook Library by Starbucks, McLemore Hall by Career Services, Subway in the R.C. Union, and The Fresh Food Company. Backpacks will be delivered after the collection deadline.
“It’s a little bit slow so far, because a lot of people aren’t on campus yet,” Lewis said. “I’ve had people reaching out to me from the community, so that’s what’s kind of driving it right now.
“We’re trying to get their items before everything goes through. If not, we as the organizations will pull together what we can to make sure that they have enough for what they need.”
Despite the somewhat slow supply of donations, Lewis already has heard from students who are excited and thankful to benefit from the program.
“I ran into one of the students the other day in the parking lot on his way back from the lab, and he said, ‘thank you so much,’ so they’re pretty excited,” Lewis said. “I also had a PhD student come by and tell me the same thing and (to make sure) her name was on the list.
“We’ve partnered with the Wesley Foundation for (deliveries), and we’ll probably reach out to them shortly for that."
Although this is the first time for “Blessings in a Backpack,” similar endeavors have been held in the past, including “Homebake for the Holidays” for Thanksgiving and Christmas and a study kit drive in the spring.
“Those were excellent,” Lewis said. “We had about 40 people for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, and for Thanksgiving we were actually able to donate a whole meal to a group of students that were going to eat together.
“Then we got about 20 or so kits out to the students to prepare them for exams.”
And because there’s always a need somewhere on campus, Lewis and her peers already are looking forward to hosting more drives for students.
“We have people that show up quite late, and so they don’t have time or transportation to get to the place and get all the things, and get their backpacks ready,” Lewis said. “Some of them arrive right when school starts, so this will be a help for them as well."
