A group of students within the Texas Tech College of Media & Communication Graduate Student Society hosted its inaugural veteran clothing drive this week benefiting either low-income or homeless veterans as well as their families.
While similar drives take place this type of year, the group says they really wanted to hone in on what can sometimes be regarded as a “forgotten” population.
“People forget about veterans coming back, they don’t always consider the needs that they have beyond just returning home,” said Judson Meeks, a PhD student within the college and the society’s president. “These are men and women who have volunteered and signed on the dotted line to defend us while we stayed at home and enjoyed the freedoms that we have here.”
“The weather’s getting real cold out so we’re just interested in helping out veterans who may need a little something to make them a little warmer this holiday season,” said Collin Berke, a PhD student within the college and vice president to the COMC graduate student society.
The clothing drive began Monday, and ran through Wednesday, December 7. Those who participated were entered to win signed Texas Tech memorabilia by Kliff Kingsbury and Candi Whitaker, but for some donors, the call to donate came from more than just winning prizes.
“”I just wanted to kinda pay it forward,” shared Shayla Hammock, who donated a couple of coats to the pile. “I think it’s a good, always a good to be mindful of it during this time of year with it being Christmas and Pearl Harbor and just to remind us that we’re very blessed to live in America.”
“It’s the absolute lease we can do and we should be doing a lot more to help these groups out,” said Meeks. “This is something that we could easily solve if we all just agreed to work together on it.”
On Thursday, November 8, all the items donated will be given to VetStar, a local veteran support group. From there, the clothes will be distributed to veterans who are either homeless, or low-income.
This was the first drive the society held, they say they hope to do it again next year.
