All donations, including monetary donations, are welcomed at the AU Open Paws Pantry at either campus location from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. Students can find the pantries in Bellevue Hall on the Summerville campus or on the second floor of the Student Center on the Health Sciences campus. The pantry reports that snack foods, energy bars, and other shelf-stable, ready-to-eat foods run out the fastest, but they also are interested in keeping canned goods, pastas, crackers, cereals, and toiletries including soap and shampoo, feminine products, and shaving supplies on hand. You can also give monetary donations to the pantry through the AU Foundation—please specify the Food Pantry or AU Open Paws pantry. Let’s keep our AU students healthy, well-fed, and hungry only for great ideas!
BSA officers pictured (left to right): Mercy Kehinde-Ige, Emily Burns, Elisabeth Mellott, Katie Anne Fopiano, and Dominique Monroe.
The BSA hosted a mini Food Pantry for the First-Year students to welcome them to AU and help them get started with food and supplies as they transition into graduate school. Senior students graciously donated a variety of items including produce and non-perishable foods and First-Year students were able to take what they needed. It was a great way for students to support their peers in a healthy and helpful way!
Shepeard Community Blood Center's mobile unit, the Blood Vessel, was able to collect thirteen life-saving pints thanks to a campus blood drive hosted by the BSA.
Little Free Library is a non-profit organization that seeks to build community and inspire readers by expanding book access. The Augusta University Literacy Center holds a similar goal of creating literacy access for all. The Biomedical Student Association partnered with both of these organizations to build a Little Free Library for the Augusta University Literacy Center. The Little Free Library will hold books collected by the BSA during their campus book drive. All individuals in the Augusta community are encouraged to use the Little Free Library at the AU Literacy Center's new location in the HUB for Community Innovation at 631 Chafee Ave, Suite 104.
The BSA joined in the community-wide Earth Day Cleanup of the CSRA organized by Savannah
Riverkeeper, Keep Augusta Beautiful, and Phinizy Swamp Nature Park. BSA members Michaela
Quintero and Hannah Youngblood collected several bags of trash from Augusta's Downtown
Riverwalk. (Sorry, I forgot to take pictures for this one. I'm attaching the flyer
instead.)
While BSA officers Emily Burns and Katieanne Fopiano raised funds for the American Heart Association through a percentage night fundraiser at local restaurant Sole, other BSA members raised awareness about heart health by participating in the CSRA American Heart Association Heart Walk.
As part of their Valentine's for Vets service project, the BSA wrote notes of encouragement to residents of the Georgia War Veterans Nursing Home.
BSA joined hands with students from other AU colleges and campus organizations, including the Black Student Union, the Medical College of Georgia, and Omega Psi Phi, to help the Augusta Dream Center. The Augusta Dream Center is a non-profit organization that seeks to meet the basic needs of underprivileged individuals by providing them with food, clothing, and medical care. The 31 student volunteers were able to donate two car-loads of clothing, prepare a meal for community members, and serve in the clothes closet and food pantry, among other activities.
2021 events
AUGUST 2021 | STUDENT MENTORSHIP PROGRAMFor August, we focused on first-year mentorship. We hosted a potluck, where upper classmen brought hot dishes as well as fruit and non-perishables to the biomed lounge for the first-year students. |
SEPTEMBER 2021 | TUNNEL TO TOWERS 5KIn September, we volunteered with the Tunnel to Towers 5K that raised money for Wounded Warriors.
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OCTOBER 2021 |HALLOWEEN CANDY DRIVE FOR RONALD MCDONALD HOUSEIn October, we had a Halloween Candy Drive that benefitted the Ronald McDonald House. People were very generous with the drive! We were able to stuff over 60 bags full of candy and other goodies. Some student trick-or-treaters took the bags over to the Ronald McDonald House on Friday evening. We had enough left over to send some to pediatric oncology and the Children’s Hospital as well! |
2020 and prior events
AUGUST 2020 | STUDENT MENTORSHIP PROGRAMOur first service project for the fall semester was aimed to welcome new biomedical students to the program by pairing them with an upperclassman graduate student mentor. This was the second year that the BSA has organized the student mentorship program. It seemed especially important this year to set up these contacts for the first-year students since the amount of in person student gatherings was limited due to the Covid-19 pandemic. All in all, a great way to welcome incoming students, provide helpful resources and start life-long friendships. |
SEPTEMBER 2020 | LETTERS TO VETERANSWe participated in a pen pal project for the residents of the Georgia War Veterans Nursing Home. With the help of friends and family, we were able to send all 98 residents a card of thanks and encouragement. (Photos: our the post office collection box and the cards collected). |
OCTOBER 2020 | STORYTIME WITH A SCIENTIST
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NOVEMBER 2020 | THANKFUL BASKETS FOR ESSENTIAL WORKERSFor the November service project, “Thankful Baskets” were assembled for AU and AU Health essential workers. Each participating department was given a basket to fill with candy, snacks, gift cards, and/or notes of thanks and encouragement. The baskets will be delivered to housekeeping and hospital staff to show our gratitude and appreciation for all they have done and continue to do every day. The project was also an interdepartmental contest to see which department collected the most goodies. |
DECEMBER 2020 | HOLIDAY TOY DRIVEFor the December Service Project, we had a toy drive. We collected toys, books, and clothing for the Boys and Girls Club of the CSRA and Toys for Tots.
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JAN-FEB 2019 | "CLEAN YOUR CLOSETS" CLOTHES DRIVEIn January/February, we had a campus-wide “Clean Your Closets Clothes Drive” that collected clothes for the Augusta Dream Center and sports clothes for local school kids through a program called “Gear Up”. |
MARCH 2019 | AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION FUNDRAISERIn March, we coordinated the annual fundraiser for the American Heart Association (AHA) at the AR Workshop in North Augusta. 10% of proceeds went to the AHA. |
APRIL 2019 | EARTH DAY CLEANUP
In April, we had planned an Earth Day cleanup of the Savannah River watershed in conjunction with Savannah Riverkeeper. |
MAY 2019 | MONTH OF MIRACLES FUNDRAISER
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The October service project involves creating “Storytime with a Scientist” videos
for the Richmond Public Library children’s program. The first video is aimed at younger
children and will include Caryn Bird reading the Humpty Dumpty story, Emily Parker
doing an egg experiment to show how we could have made Humpty Dumpty bounce, and Stan
the Skeleton Man offering tips on how to keep our bones healthy. The second video
will be for older children and will include Sarah Ray and Hannah Youngblood explaining
how the kidneys work using a coffee filter demonstration and Lindsey Ramirez showing
how we can assess kidney health by measuring the amount of urinary protein. Both videos
will include Hanna Reinhart demonstrating a do-at-home “Elephant Toothpaste” experiment
(photo). This project is still ongoing - check back for links to the videos.
The month of May was dedicated to childhood disease awareness. The BSA raised funds
for the Children’s Hospital of Georgia through the Month of Miracles fundraiser, and
several students made story time videos for the children staying at the Ronald McDonald
House in Augusta. The theme of both projects was “Keep Looking Up!”