Department of Occupational Therapy collects glove donations to help homeless

By Kate Hunger 

In an effort to help homeless people in the San Antonio Area, the Department of Occupational Therapy held a glove donation drive in late November and early December. 

The effort yielded 194 pairs of donated gloves which were delivered to Heaven for Hope, the city's homeless center, said Kimatha Oxford Grice, OTD, OTR, CHT, associate professor. Grice said the drive was inspired by the comments of a speaker at the annual meeting of the Texas Society for Hand Therapy about the effect of cold weather on hands. 

"I started thinking of all the people in San Antonio who are on the street," she said. 

OT students publicized the drive by designing posters and placing several collection boxes around campus, said second-year MOT student Jemma Bohlar, social chair of the Class of 2019. 

The glove drive succeeded in more than one way. 

"We were collecting gloves to help the homeless as well as getting the word out about what OT is and what we do," she said. 

Grice said she is planning for the glove drive to be an annual event. 

The glove drive poster included information on the impact of cold hands, including restriction of both circulation to the fingers and tactile sensitivity, a decrease in functional dexterity, and impaired performance. 

The poster also included the following quote from the Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lecture of influential occupational therapy scholar and leader Mary Reilly, Ed.D., OTR:

"Man, through the use of his hands, as they are energized by mind and will, can influence the state of his own health."