Doña Ana Community College 2016 graduates — all AARC members — go above and beyond the community service call-of-duty.
Community service is a part of most RT educational programs, but these AARC student members from New Mexico have really gone above and beyond. In addition to hosting four car washes and a golf tournament to raise money to attend the New Mexico state society conference and convert their student memberships in the AARC to active membership status, the class of 2016 at Doña Ana Community College in Las Cruces, NM, also gave back to their community big time.
“This class volunteered twice at Casa de Peregrinos, which is a food pantry in Las Cruces that serves people in our community and county,” says Program Director Virginia Durant, MA, RRT. “Nearly one-quarter of our residents live below poverty level and in the rural colonias there are many actually living far below that, with family incomes averaging $5,000 per year.”
Volunteers keep the pantry up and running, and having the RT students come in twice really made a difference to families in need. They also took an interest in the health of those families by participating in the annual “Run with Your Doc” 5K hosted by the college to benefit a local clinic for homeless and indigent members of the community who desperately need health care services.
Congrats to the class of 2016 at Doña Ana, all 13 of them now newly minted active members of the AARC: Bianca Norero, Gerardo Gonzalez, Hugo Muraco, Jerica Gomez, Joanna Chavira, Laura Aguirre, Lori Brown, Lynette Baca, Manuel De La Torre, Martina George, Ryan Serna, Valerie Kling, Vivian Booth.
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