For the week of November 9th – November 13th, the St. Petersburg College Allstate Campus came together to collect household goods needed by the BayPines VA for veterans transitioning from homelessness to permanent homes. The items requested by the BayPines VA were as follows:
* Laundry Baskets
* Bath Towels
* Kitchen Towels
* All purpose spray cleaner
* Packs of cleaning sponges
* Paper Towels
* Glass Cleaner
* Brooms
* Dust pans
* Mops
* Mop Buckets
* Floor Cleaner
* Dish Soap
* Laundry Soap
* Dryer/Fabric Softener Sheets
On Monday and 
Tuesday, donations began to come in primarily from our very supportive faculty and staff. On Thursday, we received a call from the coordinators at the Fire Academy, a satellite location of the Allstate Campus, saying that the two Fire Academy classes had really outdone themselves. Not being available to attend our Care Package Assembly party planner for Friday, the classes wanted to do what they could to help out. Two very full carloads later, we had all of the donations in the Student Life and Leadership office.
On Friday, stude
nts and staff gathered to celebrate 
the successful donation drive by packing care packages for veterans in need while enjoying pizza and camaraderie. One of our security guards, Ryan Crowder, shared his own story about assistance offered to him by the VA following his enrollment in the Military as a Marine.
In the end we collected enough good to make 43 bags – each valued at $5-$7.
Shana Sapp, advising manager (follow her on twitter @shana_sapp) and I went to the Bay Pines VA Voluntary Services center on Monday, 11/16 to meet Nathan Witt and drop off the care packages.
We know that a lot of our students are veterans themselves and want to send a huge THANK YOU to all of them, and the many others in our community who have chosen to serve our country. As a student veteran, we do want to remind you that you can visit Veterans Services online, or on the Gibbs, Clearwater, or Seminole Campuses. Also, the Baypines VA is always in need of a variety of items or in-person volunteers to help veterans in need. Please check them out online to see their greatest current need.
