WCU helps homeless students during break

West Chester University will continue its tradition of helping homeless students during the winter break.

During its five-week winter break when most students leave campus, West Chester University will continue its tradition of helping those students who are homeless by providing, at no cost, rooms in the residence halls, meals, and the friendship of university staff. Throughout the winter break, 26 homeless students were given the option of staying in beds and warm rooms thanks to the Office of Residence Life and Housing Services; continuous meals thanks to Aramark dining service; a winter bus shuttle thanks to the Facilities Division; and friendship thanks to Assistant Director of Financial Aid Tori Nuccio, Head Football Coach Bill Zwaan, Associate Director of Housing and Dining Administration Susan Visoskas, those in the Division of Student Affairs, and many, many others. Thanks to a university-wide holiday drive organized by Coach Zwaan with the help of staff in the Division of Student Affairs, gifts for the homeless students were collected Friday at 3 p.m., and dropped off at Coach Zwaan’s office, which is located at 850 South New Street, West Chester.

WCU has been providing services to those students on campus who are homeless since 2014. The university has just named its efforts the Promise Program thanks to organizer Nuccio, who acts as the Single Point of Contact for homeless and foster youth at WCU. The Promise Program is a campus support program for homeless and foster youth, and provides monthly group dinners, access to free housing over breaks, programming, and much more.

“There has been overwhelming support from the university for our students who are homeless,” Nuccio said. “I just came back from Coach Zwaan’s office, and there are boxes and boxes of holiday gifts for the students. They are going to be so surprised. All the credit goes to Coach Zwaan, who is equally passionate about helping students who have great need. It’s a really good day when you can make a difference that sticks.”

Zwaan initiated a drive for the Promise Program, in order to provide holiday gifts for the students. Last year, Zwaan, his siblings, and Nuccio decided to forego their gift-giving to be Santa to WCU homeless students; they provided a fun-filled holiday party with surprise gifts for the students.

WCU also provides a Resource Pantry for WCU students in need, which provides fresh food from the university’s South Campus and Tanglewood Gardens, as well as a room for toiletries and school supplies, a welcoming intake space for students, and even an area where donated desktop computers can be provided. Recently, the Resource Pantry organized a program entitled Operation S.N.O.W. (Student Needs Over Winter). Student organizations brought items to an event where bags of food were packed, so they can be delivered to residence halls and kitchens for WCU students staying on campus during winter break. The Resource Pantry resides within the Office of Service Learning & Volunteer Programs, and is supported by the Office of Financial Aid, Office of Student Affairs, and very generous donors through the WCU Foundation.

In addition, since the summer of 2016, University Student Housing (USH), which is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation, offers housing scholarships for students who would be forced to return to shelters at the completion of the spring semester. As a result, summer housing is offered to students who are categorized as “unaccompanied homeless and foster youth.”