Omega Tau Sigma fraternity designs community service project to involve the College of Veterinary Medicine
Omega Tau Sigma (OTS) developed a community service project for the holiday season, designed to involve the College of Veterinary Medicine community and make a positive impact on the lives of families in need. Community service chairs Ashlie Saffire and Jordan Vitt, third year veterinary students, selected the Salvation Army's annual Angel Tree program. This program collects toys for children of families who cannot afford to purchase them. The toys are chosen in advance by the children. Eligible families around Columbus sign up for the program, and their gift requests are then distributed to various "Angel Trees" around city, sponsored by other charitable organizations.
To make this event special to the College of Veterinary Medicine, members of OTS built a seven-foot-tall Ohio State "Block O," which was used to hang the gift tags, rather than a more traditional Christmas tree. After a week of sawing wood and painting, the final product was displayed in the Grand Lounge of VMAB. For about two weeks, students, staff and faculty in the college had the opportunity to choose a gift tag hanging on the Block O, purchase the toy and donate it to the program Gifts were for children ranging from six months to 15 years old. By the last day of the official drive, only six tags remained. OTS then hosted a school-wide bake sale to raise money to buy the remaining gifts. Baked goods were donated and Once again over $260 was collected, with which they were able to buy all the remaining gifts and a few extras. On December 13th, 2010 over 50 gifts were taken to the salvation army to be distributed to the families.
OTS would like to publically thank the generous participation of the entire College of Veterinary Medicine community. Because of the success of the program, OTS has decided to make this a yearly event, and plan to place the Block O in early November 2010.
OTS is a professional veterinary co-ed fraternity at The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine.
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About the College of Veterinary Medicine at Ohio State
Founded in 1885, The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine is ranked fifth in the nation and includes more than 1,000 faculty, staff and students in the Departments of Veterinary Biosciences, Veterinary Clinical Sciences, and Veterinary Preventive Medicine. The Veterinary Medical Center is one of the largest specialty referral centers in the world, with more than 35,000 farm, equine, and companion animal patients each year. A nationally-recognized ambulatory practice and teaching unit in Marysville, Ohio provides farm animal experience to every veterinary student, and the Food Animal Health Research Program in Wooster, OH focuses on detection, control, and prevention of disease. Located on the only campus in the country with a comprehensive medical center offering seven health sciences colleges, we admit up to 162 veterinary students per class, and offer a new comprehensive graduate program in Veterinary and Comparative Medicine as well as a unique Master’s degree in Veterinary Public Health, in partnership with the College of Public Health. http://vet.osu.edu.
