PA Program Organizes Fundraiser to Help Frontline Providers

Rutgers University PA Students and Local Running Store Donate 86 Pairs of Clogs

April 10, 2020

By Molly deButts, PA-S

Molly deButts is a second-year PA student at Rutgers University. She and her classmates felt strongly about helping frontline providers during the COVID-19 pandemic. She shared her program’s creative thinking and successful efforts with AAPA.

$5,000 in Five Days
The Rutgers PA program partnered with a local running store, Runner’s Haven, in Randolph, New Jersey to purchase Oofos clogs to be donated to healthcare workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 fight. These clogs are easy to disinfect, very comfortable, and help the frontline fighters avoid tracking the virus home to their families. We used a social media bingo campaign and were able to raise over $5,000 in five days! That was enough to purchase 72 pairs of clogs. Runner’s Haven donated one extra pair of clogs for every five purchased. We were able to donate 86 pairs of clogs to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital!

Advice for fellow PA students
Get involved in any way you can from home. In addition to this fundraiser, we have students involved in a COVID-19 task force. We were so inspired and proud to have raised this money to show our support and gratitude to our colleagues on the COVID-19 front lines. While this is not how we imagined our didactic year or clinical training going, we are doing the best we can to stay positive, help where we can, and prepare for our future jobs as PAs! We are finding our own ways to safely get involved and we encourage other PA students to as well!

Molly deButts is a second-year PA student at Rutgers University.

Please consider sharing your own experience on the front lines of the COVID-19 response with us.

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