Physical Therapy Students Donate 67 School Backpacks to Underserved Kids

Bay Area schools opened their doors to thousands of students this week, and for those who still needed the bare essential supplies — backpacks, pens, paper — students from Samuel Merritt University’s (SMU) Doctor of Physical Therapy (PT) program were there to lend a hand.

Earlier this summer, students Logan Zimmerman, Sophia Fong, Justin LaLonde, and Mike (Mikhail) Drizik held the first-of-its-kind backpack drive on campus. The group placed large bins around SMU’s Oakland campus in June and asked fellow students and faculty to drop off free classroom supplies for underserved kids.

Zimmerman said the group made a goal to fill 50 backpacks.

The SMU community filled 67.

“We set our bar high,” Zimmerman said, “knowing it was during the summer and a lot of people weren’t on campus to participate. It was a fun way to help our community, and we felt great that we are able to start the kid’s school year off in a good way.”

The underlying foundation of physical therapy, Zimmerman added, is that everyone deserves healthcare equality regardless of socioeconomic status. The same goes for education — everyone deserves to enter school prepared with the same set of tools.

“Their vision and work are the evolution of the PT curriculum that builds upon service and social justice in parallel to PT skills,” said Craig Elliott, PhD, assistant vice president of Enrollment and Student Services. “These students recognize the connection between access to education and health disparities within our communities.”

In August, Zimmerman and the group filled her Prius to the ceiling and drove to a warehouse in Milpitas where the non-profit group Family Giving Tree distributed the supplies to Bay Area kids.

“The Family Giving Tree is honored to receive the generous donation of backpacks from the students and community at Samuel Merritt University,” said Alene Ipsaro, communications manager at the Family Giving Tree. “Because of the generosity of SMU students, Family Giving Tree is closer to reaching our goal of sending 35,000 underserved students across the Bay Area to school prepared. Every child deserves the opportunity to a great education and the hope of a future bright with possibility, and it's wonderful to see the future healthcare professionals from Samuel Merritt University helping those who will one day follow in their footsteps and attend university.”

Zimmerman said the backpack drive was just one way to help community members in underserved areas, and her fellow students will continue to seek new opportunities to do it again.

“We had a chance to help people in need,” Zimmerman said. “As future therapists, we see the value in life-long learning and wanted to make sure others had the same opportunities, and got off to a good start in their education journey.”

Photos
Upper left: PT students Sophia Fong (L) and Logan Zimmerman set up donation and collection bins in the HEC.
Lower right: PT students Justin LaLonde and Logan Zimmerman drop off 67 donated backpacks from the SMU community to Family Giving Tree in Milpitas.