ECU Health North Hospital's 2025-26 Nursing Residency students were challenged by ENS Residency & Student Coordinator Charlotte Ferguson to complete a service project as the capstone to their residency year.
From that vision, the group launched a project called Cans for a Cause.
Over the past four weeks, more than 45 team members from 17 departments and units came together to donate more than 300 food and personal care items. The donations were distributed to C.A.R.E. John 3:16 in Roanoke Rapids, C.A.R.E. John 3:16 in Littleton, the Woodland Blessing Box, the Littleton Blessing Box and the Roanoke Rapids Blessing Box.
As part of the project, the group explored the social determinants of health affecting the communities served and quickly recognized that many individuals and families face barriers to accessing basic food necessities.
"Nursing is a calling. You have to want to care for people during their worst moments, no matter why they come to you or who they are,” Ferguson said. “Nursing is not about titles or paychecks; it's about having the compassion to care. God blessed me with this calling, and I am grateful for the opportunity to serve."
Ferguson said her hope for the graduates is that they will continue to grow, serve others and remember the larger purpose behind their profession.
"We are part of something so much bigger than ourselves," said Nursing Resident Autumn Balla.
Ferguson echoed that sentiment by Rawsi Williams, "To do what nobody else will do, in a way that nobody else can do, in spite of all we go through — that is to be a nurse."
Ferguson also noted that Raequan Outlaw, chair of the Emerging Nurse Leaders, reflected on completing his first year of nursing and participating in the service project by drawing inspiration from a quote by Admiral William McRaven: "That under the keel, at the darkest moment of the mission, is the time when you need to be calm, when you must be calm, when you must be composed, when all your tactical skills, your physical power and all your inner strength must be brought to bear."
According to Ferguson, Outlaw said the entire group has embraced another lesson from McRaven: "Don't quit. Never ring the bell. The message has served as a source of motivation throughout their first year as nurses, reinforcing the resilience, determination and commitment required to serve others.”
“Through their generosity and commitment to community service, these nursing residents have made a meaningful difference in the lives of others while demonstrating ECU Health's mission to improve the health and well-being of eastern North Carolina,” ECU North said. “Their project serves as a powerful reminder that nursing extends far beyond the walls of the hospital—it is a commitment to caring for people wherever they are and whenever they are in need.”
