Gretchen Burns | Collegio Reporter

Last week, students at Pittsburg State held a book drive to benefit patients at Via Christi Health, and the sororities on campus used it as an opportunity for a friendly competition. All week, collection boxes were set up in the Overman Student Center to be filled with media donations for long-term patients at the local hospital.
Jaimie Berberich, chair of the Panhellenic Council, says the organization put on the book drive to collect books, games, CDs, magazines and puzzles so that patients who are treated for long periods of time at Via Christi would have something to do to pass time.

“I can only imagine how difficult it would be to have to stay in the hospital for so long,” said Berberich, sophomore in nursing. “So we tried to provide them with distractions and things to do in their rooms to pass the time and to also encourage them to keep reading.”
According to Berberich, students were allowed to donate to the book drive, but the sororities used it as a competition. Alpha Gamma Delta won the competition by donating 418 items while Sigma Sigma Sigma was a close second with 351 total items.
Berberich says a majority of the items donated were given to the hospital.
“Unless the books were missing a cover or were damaged we kept them all,” Berberich said. “You never know what someone might want to read! The magazines also had to be somewhat recent to donate.”
Berberich says that the items collected are going to be offered to long-term patients at Via Christi and any items the hospital does not accept will be put into a hospital book sale. The money generated from the sale will go towards the purchase of new equipment for the hospital and some of the money will be put into a scholarship fund offered by the hospital for Pittsburg State students.
Berberich says that the Panhellenic Council collected, and will be donating, 946 total items to Via Christi.