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AOA helps purchase van for Jenkins Institute Seeds for a long-lasting collaboration with the Jenkins Institute for Children in North Charleston were planted Dec. 19 during what Gabriel Virella, M.D., Ph.D., describes as “a truly remarkable occasion”—a party for the youngsters held by the MUSC branch of Alpha-Omega-Alpha (AOA) Honor Medical Society.   Members of the Alpha-Omega-Alpha (AOA) present the van and checks to Maurice Johnson, second from left, director of the Jenkins Institute. From left are: Amy Anne Donatelli, vice-president of AOA, Johnson, Dr. Gabriel Virella, councilor, and Michael DeWolfe, AOA president. The party capped a day in which the AOA branch presented the institute with funds towards the purchase of a new, 15-passenger van.   “The director of the institute, Mr. Maurice Johnson, a man facing his enormous struggle with unflinching optimism, told us about how their means of transportation were near total collapse,” Virella said.   An MUSC professor of immunology and microbiology, Virella is councilor of the local AOA branch.   The 15-passenger van was donated to the Jenkins Institute by the Alpha-Omega-Alpha Honor Medical Society.  “Our branch applied for a chapter development award of $5,000 from the National Organization, pledging to match the award with an equal amount from its funds, and turn the total over to the Jenkins Institute for the purpose of purchasing the vehicle,” Virella said. “We hoped that the amount would be sufficient to purchase a used van in good shape, but Mr. Johnson was able to obtain an identical amount from the City of North Charleston.”   In addition, the local AOA chapter raised $940 in the annual Christmas party that was also donated to the Jenkins Institute for Children.   The relationship with the Jenkins Institute for Children, which began in the spring of 1999, is but the latest of a series of community involvements in which AOA members fulfill the organization’s goals to promote professional excellence and altruism in the medical profession.    AOA members include physicians and medical students, and an elected executive committee, which includes four students and two faculty members. (For details visit the chapter's Web site at <http://musc.edu/AOA>.   In the past few years the chapter has become involved in numerous community projects, including support to the Lady of Mercy Outreach Mission on John's Island. AOA members have collaborated with the Outreach Mission in Health Screening clinics, toy collections, and parties for underprivileged children.    The chapter obtained national recognition in 1998, when it received a second place award in the competition for Chapter of the Year sponsored by the parent organization. This award included $2,500 to be used in support of the Outreach Mission, and with an equal amount provided by the local branch, there were enough funds for the purchase of a desk computer with printer and software as well as a dental X-ray machine.     In addition, the chapter has embarked on a long-term fund-raising project aimed at establishing a scholarship named for two young members who met with an untimely death soon after graduation. A 10-mile relay held each spring facilitates the funding of this scholarship, as well as donations received from some of the faculty members associated with AOA.    The chapter also endows the Thomas Antley Pitts AOA Award presented to the top ranking freshman and funds visits by two distinguished lecturers on a yearly basis.   MUSC's Alpha branch of the Alpha-Omega-Alpha Honor Medical Society has earned the distinction of being one of the two most active branches in the nation. Alpha-Omega-Alpha was founded in 1902 by William Webster Root and five other medical students at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Chicago. Its mission statement reads that “AOA's [...] is to be a rising voice for professionalism, for advocating the highest ethical standards in medicine, for recognizing the importance of optimal patient care and for emphasizing the need for continuing scholarship and academic achievements.”    In addition, the National Alpha-Omega-Alpha organization has a long-standing tradition of supporting community projects from the local branches.   The Jenkins Institute of Children, located on Azalea Drive, North Charleston, is the modern-day descendant of the well-known Jenkins Orphanage. The orphanage was founded in 1892 by the Rev. Daniel Joseph Jenkins, and had as its mission “[...] providing a safe, secure, loving home for orphans and destitute boys and girls in need.” The orphanage was initially located at 20 Franklin Street in the city of Charleston, but in 1937, four years after being severely damaged by fire, reopened at its present location— a 220 acre farm located near Ashley River, within the city limits of present-day North Charleston.    In its heyday (1896) the orphanage had 536 children. Among the different skills taught at the orphanage, music was to give the institution worldwide renown.   Led by Edmund Jenkins, Jenkins' son, as many as two jazz bands toured the United States and Europe, generating a great part of the income necessary to keep the orphanage in operation. The orphanage band was the starting point for some outstanding jazz musicians, such as William “Cat” Anderson, who played for many years in the Duke Ellington orchestra and Cladys “Jabbo” Smith, whose recordings in the 30's influenced Roy Eldridge's style but went largely ignored in his prime.    The band ceased to exist in the 1950s and the Jenkins Orphanage entered into a phase of economic difficulties that persist to the present day. Now known as the Jenkins Institute for Children it is the home of about 30 children, of both genders and diverse ethnic backgrounds. Editor's note: Information submitted by Gabriel Virella, M.D., Ph.D.