On Saturday, the Meyerhoff Parents Association helped organize a food collection for Retriever Essentials at their Fall Family Luncheon.

The caring and thoughtful attendees filled up FOUR donation bins! This food will help stock our shelves for the coming weeks as the semester gets busier and students continue to be in need of free healthy food.

We are so thankful for the Meyerhoff Parents Association's thoughtfulness in organizing this collection. If your student group or department would like to host a food collection at an upcoming event or meeting, please email retrieveressentials@umbc.edu so we can help with the setup process.

We are always in need of the following, which can be brought to donation bins in the Administration Building, Commons, or the AOK atrium:

This semester we have NINE students enrolled in the zero credit 096 Practicum course through the Shriver Center, with their service site being Retriever Essentials!!

Yesterday was a busy day! No amount of rain deterred the cheer the students had while collecting donations throughout campus.

A big thank you to all of our supporters! Your donations keep us running. Right now we are still in need of the following items:

• pasta sauce

• brown rice

• canned beans

• canned meat
• canvas bags (need to be big enough to fit a packed brown paper bag inside)

• toothpaste and mouthwash

• deodorant

• chapstick

Donations can be made at tinyurl.com/saveaswipe

It's Save A Swipe Time!

Save a Swipe is UMBC's unique meal sharing program! 

This year you have two meal-donation options:

1. Donate 5 meals between October 1- November 4

1. Donate 10 meals between October 1- December 9

You have until SEPTEMBER 21 to signup online to donate through your option of choice. More details on the donation process are found on the google form.

GAs,

Below are the questions that the GAAC provided to the Graduate School and UHS so that we can all better understand the impact to us of the Aetna Student Health insurance rates for UMBC not being approved by the State of Maryland yet.

The Administration is reviewing, and will address our questions as soon as possible, while also potentially adding questions/answers of their own to provide the needed clarity.

• If a student has to see a non-UHS provider after August 14^th, should the student still provide the same Aetna Member ID and the same Aetna card?

• If the rates remain unapproved by August 14^th, what can students expect if they have to see a non-UHS provider (physician, dentist, physical therapist, etc.), or have to have a prescription filled/lab test performed outside of UHS after that date? For example, will students still be asked for the same copay amount in a provider's office, or a different amount? 

• UHS has an on-site prescription dispensary. Will the dispensary continue to provide medications after August 14^th?

• How can students verify which prescriptions will be filled by the UHS dispensary after August 14th?

• Can students do anything to help get rates approved? For example, write letters to a representative, etc.?

• Who can be contacted with additional questions?

If there are other questions you have about the issue, please send them to gaac@umbc.edu.

Best,
Felipe Munoz Castillo
Public Policy PhD Student
GAAC Chair