Student Groups Organize Efforts to Give Back During the Holidays

It’s a time of final exams and potentially a lot of stress, but during this holiday season, the students at the University of Michigan School of Nursing are embracing the spirit of giving and have organized efforts to support their communities, both locally in Ann Arbor and across the globe at a military base in Afghanistan.

One of these efforts is being led by the Nursing Council, the student government body for the U-M School of Nursing. According to Emily Berger, President of the Class of 2012, every holiday season the Council participates in the Sponsor-a-Family project through the U-M Ginsberg Center, a unit that organizes student community service initiatives at the University. Essentially, the Council is assigned a family and given some details regarding the family’s composition, needs, and holiday wish list items. The Council collects monetary donations from nursing students, staff, and faculty, and then shops for the family, wraps the presents, and delivers them in time for the holidays. This year, the Council will be shopping for a single mother and her four children, ages 3 months to 15 years.

In the past the Council’s primary mechanism for raising funds was to collect donations from fellow students during classes, passing around a “famous shoebox.” This year, however, they tried something new: during their first Sponsor-a-Family fundraising event, the Nursing Council sold slices of pizza for $1. Says Berger, “The pizza fundraiser was a big hit! We sold out of pizzas within an hour. This was our first attempt at something like this so it’s wonderful that is was such a success. We were able to get a great mix of students, faculty, and staff who were extremely supportive of our cause.”

Of the effort, Berger says, “We really enjoy participating in Sponsor-a-Family and love being able to give back to our community.” As she wrote in an email to her classmates, “We are asking that everyone donates $1. (That’s simply skipping a trip to the vending machine that day!) Think about what we can achieve if everyone participates!”

LCPL Dan Gretebeck - Son of U-M School of Nursing Faculty Kim Gretebeck

In addition to the efforts of the undergraduate population, the Doctoral Student Organization (DSO) is also organizing a project to support a member of the extended and worldwide School of Nursing community. As they have done in years past, the DSO is collecting items such as snacks, chewing gum, magazines, hand-written notes, and hand/foot warmers to assemble a care package for a deployed military member. This year, the DSO’s show of support and well wishes will be sent to a soldier currently stationed in a busy and strategically important location in Afghanistan. The soldier on the receiving end of the package, LCPL Dan Gretebeck with the First Battalion Eighth Marines, is not just any soldier, but rather the son of Assistant Professor Kimberlee Gretebeck and a part of the School of Nursing’s extended family. She says she is very proud of her son for the many personal sacrifices he is making to serve his country. “As a nurse and faculty member, I am especially proud because Dan will receive the package from U-M School of Nursing doctoral students… Sending the package is very thoughtful, especially during the holiday season which is difficult for military personnel deployed away from home.”

With a donation box in the DSO lounge that is literally overflowing with packages of gum, beautiful handwritten notes, boxes of snacks, and colorful magazines, it seems that the DSO is providing something for Dan Gretebeck to look forward to (in addition to the holidays, he is also celebrating his twenty-first birthday on December 15). While Oreo cookies and a current edition of Time magazine might seem like a typical Sunday afternoon to many, these relatively small convenience items are hugely important to soldiers abroad. Dusty Filliung, a doctoral student at the U-M School of Nursing, was the recipient of a DSO sponsored care package when she was deployed to Baghdad, Iraq with the US Army in 2007-2008. Therefore, she can attest to the joy a care package brings: “I can't tell you how a package can brighten your day when deployed! Our mail list went up every day at 1pm and we always crowded around to see if our name was on it. It really makes your day!” And, she says, it wasn’t only a gift to her, but to her whole squadron since they regularly shared items with one another. “It’s important to know these care packages do make a difference,” she explains, “and we used everything that was sent to us.”

With the bulk of military activity happening out of sight, the U-M School of Nursing considers itself uniquely fortunate to have so many veterans in its community to serve as reminders of military members’ service. And this care package project is a timely example as the idea came from Greta Krapohl, a doctoral student who has served in the military for over twenty years. When she joined the military to pay for her undergraduate nursing education, she began a journey that would take her all over the world and would provide her with experiences unique to military service. And while the path she took may not be the most common, Krapohl says the U-M School of Nursing “has a lot to be proud of” when it comes to having a vibrant community of veterans. “It’s pretty rare that you see so many people who have served in the military associated with a school,” she says.

The Nursing Council has finished collecting donations for their Adopt-a-Family project. However, there’s still a bit of time for those who’d like to contribute to the care package going to LCPL Dan Gretebeck. Donations will be accepted through Wednesday, December 15th in the DSO lounge (Room 2320, School of Nursing building). Snacks, gum, hand/foot warmers, magazine, and hand-written notes are very appreciated.