Winter weather is common in many states, but not Mississippi. A slight wintry mix or snow can create hazardous road conditions and make it very difficult to travel.

University of Mississippi first-year law student Emmy Thrower’s thoughts immediately went to health care workers in the area when snow was forecast earlier this month. Thrower’s mother works as a neonatal nurse in Georgia, which made her familiar with the protocol for many hospitals in the South during winter weather.

“Whenever there is a chance of snow and a possibility that the nurses for the next day might not make it in, hospitals often have the staff spend the night wherever they can find room to put them,” said Thrower, from Monroe, Georgia. “This puts a lot of nurses sleeping on benches, and without food for the next day if they didn’t see it coming.”

So when snow arrived in north Mississippi on Jan. 16, Thrower decided to make sure local health care workers were able to eat that day. She messaged her peers in the first-year law group chat to see if she could raise a little bit of money to order food for health care workers.

She never expected to raise more than $20 or so to place a pizza order, she said. But within 10 minutes, the group contributed $170. After 20 minutes, that total climbed to $316.

Thrower immediately called Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi in Oxford to find out how many nurses and staff were in each unit. The class’ donations were enough to send enough food to cover lunch for all 28 health care workers on duty in the hospital’s emergency room and intensive care unit.

“Our health care team was pleasantly surprised with the meal donated by the first-year law students at Ole Miss last week during the snow day,” said Bill Henning, the hospital’s CEO and administrator. “We are grateful to have a community partner in the university to help provide care to Oxford and the surrounding communities.”

Because the class raised so much, she also was able to cover lunch for staffers at Rockdale Medical Center in Georgia, where her mom is a nurse. The remainder of the money was used to send dessert to the Oxford fire department and police station.

In total, the class was able to provide food to more than 50 health care workers and first responders.

“I have some incredible classmates for making this happen,” Thrower said. “A lot of us have parents, friends or significant others in health care, so it meant a lot for us to be able to give back in some way.”

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