Student Support Services donates items to help homeless
Alabama Aviation College Student Support Services (SSS) participants donated dozens of items for homeless individuals living in the southeastern region to the Southeast Alabama Coalition for the Homeless (SEACH) on Tuesday, July 31.
The items, collected over the summer semester at the college, included canned foods and dry goods, clothing, bags, and more. Vickie Alleman, SEACH president, picked up the items from the Ozark campus.
According to Lesia Grice, the SSS Career/Transfer Coordinator on the aviation campus, the students picked the community service project based on a newspaper article in The Dothan Eagle regarding SEACH’s “Spring Stand Down” event. The project is among at least three SSS has led within the last two years. Other projects included dedicating hours and supplies to the Ozark Dale County Humane Society and donating school supplies and toiletries to area students and families.
Alabama was estimated last year to have a homeless population of 3,793, with at least 294 of those individuals ranging in age from 18-24, according to the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. SEACH estimated that more than 375 residents are homeless in the southeastern region alone.
Many of the SSS students were eager to assist in the project.
“Today felt really good,” said Phyllis Hester, an SSS Advisory Board member on the aviation campus.
“I am really proud to see what we can do when we work together.”
Student Support Services at Enterprise State Community College have existed as a grant-funded, Department of Education TRIO program since 1978, providing nearly 40 years of continuous service for students through academic advisement and tutoring; financial aid and economic literacy; transfer services; campus tours; exposure to cultural events; mentoring; and other individualized counseling needs.
Enterprise State Community College is a comprehensive community college which serves more than 2,800 students annually between its Enterprise campuses and the Alabama Aviation College in Andalusia and Ozark. The AAC currently fulfills the Alabama Community College System’s mission for aviation maintenance training statewide.