Arizona Western nursing students pack 250 care kits for homeless residents

More than 250 care packages filled with snacks, deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrushes, sunscreen and lotion went to people experiencing homelessness through Arizona Western College’s Iota Theta chapter of Alpha Delta Nu. The student nurses also handed out bottled water, resource information and messages of encouragement, turning a campus service project into a direct response to the everyday gaps that can make life on the street harder in Yuma’s heat.

Local businesses, including OrangeTheory Fitness, helped supply donations for the effort, which Arizona Western College announced April 24. The package contents mattered as much as the number: basic hygiene items, sun protection and hydration support are not extras for people living outside, they are part of staying healthy in a county where access to shelter, food and medical care can be fragile.

The project landed in the middle of Yuma County’s broader homelessness response, led in part by the Yuma Coalition to End Homelessness. The coalition brings together nonprofit organizations, homeless service providers, community service providers, business leaders and local governmental liaisons, and it says its mission is to reduce homelessness through planning, education and advocacy. Its annual Point-in-Time count offers a one-night snapshot during the last 10 days of January. Arizona Department of Housing data showed 119 homeless people in Yuma County in 2023 and 77 in 2024, while the 2025 county PIT report listed 118 total persons counted.

For Arizona Western, the care-kit drive also doubled as hands-on nursing education. The college says its nursing program prepares students for entry-level practice and the RN licensure exam, and it keeps a 1-to-10 faculty-to-student ratio in clinical practice with nine full-time faculty and additional clinical faculty. The program expanded to accept 60 students per semester in fall 2022 after receiving Nurse Education Investment Program funding, expanding the pipeline of future nurses in a region where public health needs are visible long before graduation.

The Iota Theta chapter itself is still young but already active. Arizona Western held its inaugural Alpha Delta Nu induction on May 7, 2025, when 28 fourth-semester nursing students became the first official members. By December, 22 more students had been inducted, and the chapter had already donated more than 990 pounds of food and roughly $620 to the Yuma Community Food Bank. Professors Tracy Macdonald and Amber Ortega, who co-advise the chapter, said the work showed compassion turned into action and that collaboration can create lasting change.