February 21, 2017
Jasmine Nelson
The Office of Veteran and Military Student Affairs is collecting textbook donations for student veterans beginning fall of 2017.
The program, called Books for Battle Buddies, is being set up by Corri Trenchick, outreach assistant for veterans at Fort Carson and Astrid Monar, AmeriCorps VISTA Success administrative coordinator.
Student veterans using benefits like the Post 9/11 or Montgomery GI Bills may pay out of pocket for their textbooks.
“I started school under the (Vocational Rehabilitation) program, so my books were free. I was lending out or donating my books to other veterans in my class so they didn’t have to go find or buy those books,” Trenchick said.
“So we thought this would be a great idea on a bigger scale and that more people might like to get involved.”
Anyone is welcome to donate books to the OVMSA weekdays between 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. These books will be available to be checked out this summer, as a trial-run of the program.
“We’re going to have an open library concept for the summer, so students can come and use them, but we have to develop some sort of tracking system; if they don’t return books, they can never borrow them again,” Trenchick said.
In addition to collecting student donations, this program is receiving support from the UCCS Bookstore, according to Trenchick.
“They are highly supportive of this program,” she said.
The Bookstore intends to donate damaged books that can’t be sold to students and collect any donated books that are outdated and no longer required in UCCS classes.