With the holiday season around the corner, it can be a priority to give back to a charity. While there are multiple charities available, donating to homeless veterans rose above the rest for two Longwood student groups.
“They keep us safe, fighting and serving in the U.S military, and they come home, and all of the sudden, they’re homeless, which is unacceptable,” said Tom Lanigan, a Longwood University alumni, class of 2016.
Longwood became affiliated with this program after Lanigan proposed the idea to the university's varsity softball team.
“I have a close connection with softball. I am a major supporter for them, and when I talked to Tom Hicks and he was telling me about the need of homeless female veterans; so the softball team, being girls, just jumped in,” said Lanigan.
This year along with the softball team, communication studies honors society, Lambda Pi Eta (LPE) helped coordinate a toiletry drive. From Nov. 14-18, the society passed around flyers and posted posters around campus to provide students the chance to give back.
“After the word got around the first year we did this, last year, it blossomed because there is a concern for our veterans, and I’m really proud of Longwood,” said Lanigan.
Thomas Hicks, coordinator of the homeless veteran drive for the general Farmville area and a U.S Marines veteran, has given six years in helping with the homeless veterans drive. Hicks explained he picks up the donations around the area and takes them to the Farmville post, Lynchburg or the McGuire Medical Center in Richmond, Va.
After he collects the donations he organizes everything, sanitizing and sorting items into separate bags, keeping the items he delivers clean and wearable.
“I will not take dirty stuff, and I will not take stuff that is torn or worn out,” said Hicks.
Hicks accepts donations as early as March; this year the donations were mostly concentrated on the female homeless veterans, to collect anything and everything that a woman could want. He also emphasized items for children, such as baby powder, clothing, diapers, lotion and baby wipes, because many female veterans have or are expecting children.
“Nobody thinks about the children. Nobody thinks about the lady veterans. It’s men, men, men. So, I changed that around that’s when Tom got involved with me,” said Hicks.
After the donations are gathered, cleaned and sorted through, a stand down takes place when the items are presented to the veterans. As they arrive the veterans go through a process, checking their credentials and making sure the number of family members they are collecting for is accurate. They determine how much and what they want, according to Hicks.
He said, “Tom helps me out quite a bit. Over the last few years, he has been a part of my backbone, and I appreciate him."
