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St. Mary's Dining Room provides medical and dental services — in addition to food, a clothing and hygiene center, and social services — to homeless and low-income residents and families in the Stockton area. Lee was assigned there for community work by her adviser at CSU Stanislaus, and she came away so impressed by the center that she wanted to help even more.
Lee, a Tracy resident who's less than a year from completing her bachelor's degree in nursing, was more than happy to organize a volunteer effort this month to tackle an overflowing warehouse of donated medical and dental supplies at St. Mary's.
"I have a heart for community involvement," Lee said. "I was impressed with how many people St. Mary's serves, so I said I'd come back and help them. They treat every person with dignity and respect, and they offer so many services."
Lee and her team of volunteers spent two days sorting the mountains of supplies — some to be used by St. Mary's, some to be donated to other medical clinics in the region and some to be donated to organizations working in Nigeria, Ecuador and other impoverished areas around the world.
Lee is chairperson of the CSU Stanislaus chapter of Breakthrough to Nursing, a project of the National Student Nurses Association designed in part to help nursing students become more aware of and sensitive to cultural diversity. She's planning additional community projects for the upcoming academic year.
Aiding Lee will be fellow nursing student Kristyl Fuentes, in her role as president of the CSU Stanislaus chapter of the Student Nurses Association (SNA). Fuentes, who's also nearing her bachelor's degree, said the SNA provides students with volunteer experiences that can expose them to a variety of nursing career options they might not have otherwise known about.
Fuentes, who settled in Modesto after moving from the Philippines five years ago, joined the SNA during her first semester at CSU Stanislaus. She said she's enjoyed exposing fellow students to new opportunities, but she's also come to love working in the community and helping those less fortunate.
"Working on community projects like this is very fulfilling," Fuentes said. "It helps me gain self-worth and confidence as a leader. And knowing that there are people out there who benefit from our project makes every effort worthwhile."