CPH students delivered donations for the second annual winter clothing drive, benefiting families in southern Ohio affected by the opioid epidemic.
Students Hannah Piscalko (front left) and Elli Schwartz (front right), with epidemiology research associate Deborah Jones (back center), delivering winter clothing to officials in Scioto County.
Students, faculty and staff worked alongside Operation Giving Relief to Area Children for Enrichment (GRACE) to collect and donate approximately 68 outfits for the Juvenile Court’s Family Unification and Recovery Program in Scioto County.
Donations included pants, shirts, socks, underwear and winter coats.
Public Health Student Leadership Council president and third-year environmental public health student Elli Schwartz launched the clothing drive in 2018 in response to opioid-related research by epidemiology chair William Miller, MD, PhD, MPH.
Schwartz said these donations will help support and foster communities struggling with the epidemic.
“The clothing drive provides more than just winter clothing to the children and families impacted by the opioid epidemic in Scioto County,” Schwartz says. “According to our local partners at Operation GRACE and the Scioto County Juvenile Court, the drive provides hope and acknowledges these families' efforts to overcome their addictions and raise their children in supportive environments.”
Hannah Piscalko, a graduate student of epidemiology, says she first became familiar with the program as a result of her experience with Miller's opioid research in the area.
“I research substance use and access to care in rural areas. A big part of that process is listening to the people within the community and hearing their perspectives,” Piscalko says. “It is an honor for this community to trust us with this clothing drive.”
According to Schwartz, the students plan to continue the clothing drive next winter and potentially expand it to include Pike and Jackson Counties.
