Helping the Homeless

Jesuit High School's Key Club has had a big year of service, providing assistance and/or leading initiatives such as the St. Jude Walk/Run, The Tampa Kiwanis Foundation's BBQ Fundraiser, serving foster children and their families on Thanksgiving, the annual Putt-Putt Fundraiser, and the International Holocaust Remembrance event held each year in Ybor City.

The club continued its commitment to serving those in need in our community on Saturday (March 23) at the University of South Florida, where for the second time this school year it provided assistance to a Morsani College of Medicine student organization, the Tampa Bay Street Medicine (TBSM) team.

The eleven Jesuit students learned about the TBSM team and its mission, and helped to make about 350 hygiene kits, which TBSM provides to local homeless people. In the fall, Key Club helped TBSM make 500 of the hygiene kits, which include socks, a toothbrush and toothpaste, shampoo and conditioner, soap, body wash, hand sanitizer, and a razor.

The TBSM team walks the streets of Tampa every other Friday engaging with the homeless. They provide basic primary care, over the counter medications, and wound care using medical supplies carried in backpacks, as well as the hygiene kits. The team also operates community clinics the third Saturday of every month, and utilizes a medical van, in partnership with a local physician group, which sees homeless and uninsured patients at a variety of clinic sites in the region.

Jesuit Key Club members who participated Saturday were: Nico Machado '21, Daniel Jung '21, Kaden Kynkor '21, Wyatt Swezey, '21, Ashton Buchanan '22, Adrian Cancio Rodriguez '22, Carson Jeffords '21, Frankie Machado '21, Prashanth Hevia '21, and Cole Patrick '21. Thomas Knipe '19 also participated along with Key Club moderator Amy Martin.

Next month, Key Club will participate in Florida Key Club's annual statewide conference, the District Education and Leadership Conference, or DCON. As part of their service project at DCON, Jesuit's Key Club will share with other Key Clubs in the state how they engage with the Tampa Bay Street Medicine team, and how other Key Clubs could do something similar in their respective local communities.

For more information about Tampa Bay Street Medicine, click here.