Our Impact

Bridges of Norman is a local non-profit empowering high school students in family crises to pursue education without obstacles. In the early 1990s, staff at Norman High School noticed the emergence of a population of homeless teens. These students were alone, perhaps because their parents were incarcerated, deceased, or homeless themselves. Bridges formed out of a task force meant to help address this problem, and for the past 21+ years has worked to assist students by removing barriers to graduation. Bridges houses about 20 students per semester on-site and provides another 31 students with scattered housing. Students also receive help with food, clothing, shelter, and medical needs, as well as access to counseling and advocacy. There is currently no other program in the area duplicating these services, and so we at Sooner Society believe that our donations to Bridges of Norman will help this organization to continue to provide valuable services to students who might otherwise have fallen through the cracks. 

We are completing 600+ service hours at the OU Food Pantry

Food insecurity refers to the lack of access to enough food or limited and uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate food. This can have debilitating effects on students, as housing and hunger problems can cause students to miss class, not buy required materials, or even drop a course. One in three college students report experiencing food insecurity, and this issue is very present at the University of Oklahoma. The University of Oklahoma's Food Pantry is a student-run facility dedicated to creating a culture of health and wellness within the OU community. It relies on volunteers to help fill orders, manage stock, and sort donations. By volunteering at the Food Pantry, we believe that we can help reduce food insecurity on our campus.