Lambert Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) recently held a drive to support breast cancer awareness. The drive was in collaboration with the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) and required students to get two cards at the monthly meeting before, and then write words of encouragement for breast cancer patients, turning the cards in the next day. Nikhil Fernandes, a member of Lambert HOSA’s leadership team, discussed the NBCF drive.
“We got the cards in packs of 200 and we ended up collecting over 600 cards,” Fernandes said. “That means that over 600 people diagnosed with breast cancer got our uplifting and positive message.”
The most essential part of participation is often ease of access. Students often have to look for outside service opportunities, but the collaboration between HOSA and NBCF made service to breast cancer patients accessible and easy.
However, the massive amount of product that the club needed to distribute inevitably brought challenges. Fernandes emphasized some of the main challenges officers encountered.
“We have over 600 members in our chapter, and we give out 300 cards daily,” Fernandes said. “It is two cards per person, so we had to find ways to make sure that we’re getting enough cards.”
The cards represent the potential for good that the members can capitalize on. Since HOSA just acts as the middleman, it is up to the members to use the opportunity to do good for the breast cancer community.
The National Breast Cancer Foundation and Lambert HOSA’s partnership to create the NBCF card drive was highly beneficial for both organizations. Importantly, though, they were able to inspire and improve the lives of breast cancer patients around the nation. This drive is just one of the many drives HOSA sponsors to help the needy across the nation.
