Students, staff give to community during holidays

As the holiday season begins, students and staff at Ozarks Technical Community College are doing more than just completing their semester of work.

This year, hundreds of students and staff are reaching out to those in need with various drives and assistance that will help out families over the holidays.

“The community outreach by our students and staff during the holidays typifies their generous nature. I am so pleased to see them all take an active role in helping those in need over the holidays,” said Dr. Hal L. Higdon, president of Ozarks Technical Community College.

Dental assisting and dental hygiene students are collecting food items for the La Trinidad Hispanic Church food pantry.

The dental program’s faculty is skipping their traditional Christmas gift exchange this year and instead, is collecting money for the Help Give Hope organization, which assists needy families, in particular children, in southwest Missouri.

The Associate of Science in Nursing Bridge program is working on a food drive for Ozarks Food Harvest and is also adopting a family to provide their needs during the holidays.

A food drive spearheaded by the College’s SIFE group finished its collection recently with more than 10,000 items delivered to the Branson food pantry. Similar food drives are scheduled for the Springfield and Richwood Valley campuses.

At the Waynesville Education Center, the Student Government Association is participating in the Angel Tree Program, sponsored by the Good Samaritan Resource Center. Students and staff are buying age-appropriate gifts that eventually will find their way to needy children on Christmas.

The SGA members at the Lebanon Education Center are collecting items for holiday-themed baskets that are being sold to students during a silent auction. The money raised will go to COPE, a not-for-profit agency in Lebanon that provides help for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault along with their families in Lebanon and Laclede, Texas, Dallas and Wright counties.

The classified staff is adopting a male student and his three children who are facing medical and financial issues this year.

Steve Koehler is coordinator of publications at Ozarks Technical Community College. Contact him at koehlers@otc.edu