Public Health Students Send Wildcat Warmth to Rural Kentucky

LEXINGTON, Ky.(Oct. 29, 2010) − For the third year, the University of Kentucky Student Public Health Association (UKSPHA) is organizing Wildcat Warmth, a campuswide, student-driven collection of new or gently used coats, shoes, blankets, gloves and other winter accessories to benefit needy families in the southeast region of Kentucky.
 

"The Appalachian region is vital to Kentucky, a region rich in natural and scenic beauty and filled with some of the hardest working and most sincere people I have had the pleasure of meeting," said UK President Lee T. Todd, Jr. "UK is proud to sponsor Wildcat Warmth to help families in the region prepare for the upcoming winter season."

The UKSPHA will be collecting items the week before Thanksgiving break, Nov. 15-22, and the week after Thanksgiving break, Nov. 29-Dec. 3, at nine locations across campus as well as three off-campus locations. The clothing collected through Wildcat Warmth will be distributed by Kentucky Homeplace, a UK program housed in the university's Center for Excellence in Rural Health-Hazard.

"The mission of Kentucky Homeplace is to provide access to medical, social and environmental services for citizens of the Commonwealth,” said Fran Feltner, director of Kentucky Homeplace and interim director of the UK Center for Excellence in Rural Health-Hazard. "By providing access to coats and other winter accessories, Wildcat Warmth will help to improve the quality of life for our region’s neediest residents.”
 

Over 300 coats, 200 pairs of shoes and several hundred bags containing blankets and items of clothing such as gloves, sweaters and jeans have been collected in the last two years of the drive.

"Wildcat Warmth is a great way for UK to get involved in supplying shoes, winter apparel, and other winter supplies to those in dire need," said Angela Moore, a UK College of Public Health Master's Candidate and organizer of Wildcat Warmth. "Eastern KY has some of the poorest counties not only in the state but the nation. What we, the UK community, sometimes take for granted i.e. a pair of shoes and a coat to keep us warm in the winter, these inhabitants will greatly appreciate."

Campus locations for the collection bins include:

• Commons Market
• Blazer Cafe
• Student Center (near the information desk)
• Hall of Fame area near Wildcat Deli in Kentucky Clinic
• Gatton College of Business and Economics atrium
• Ag North Deli
• Early Childhood Development Lab in Erikson Hall
• CATS Center/Athletics in Memorial Coliseum
• Peterson Building

Off campus locations:

• Lexington Montessori School, 319 S. Broadway Park.