Thomas Bonneau’s preferred pace? Lightspeed.

Bonneau ’21 postponed college for a semester for Rhode Island Army National Guard basic training. But he graduated early by taking Winter J-Term and summer classes. This fall, he started URI’s one-year M.B.A. program and plans to go to medical school after that.

As an undergraduate, Bonneau also started a nonprofit, America’s Recoverable Medical Supply (ARMS), which collects and repurposes medical supplies. Bonneau, a combat medic in the Rhode Island Army National Guard, says the idea for the nonprofit came to him while doing a routine inventory of medical supplies. “We had set aside hundreds of pounds of surplus supplies to be thrown away. We were just going to discard viable medical supplies, and it made me think, ‘This doesn’t seem right.’

“I brought it up with my chain of command. I asked if I could collect and donate the supplies to a local organization for humanitarian aid. They said, ‘Private, do whatever you want.’”

That initial haul was several hundred pounds of medical supplies. Finding a local organization ready and able to receive the bounty proved harder than Bonneau imagined. The closest organization willing to take the supplies was in Maine.

“It’s actually a common thing in health care: Supplies are thrown away because of federal regulations, institutional protocols, or supply surplus,” Bonneau says.

“I recognized the worldwide need for supplies. I also knew the environmental impact of health care in the U.S. One research article I read said that if health care in the U.S. were its own country, it would be seventh in carbon emissions. I knew something had to be done.”

Bonneau’s garage is now filled with boxes of supplies—from simple catheters and blood transfusion kits to EKG machines. He and a couple of other URI students have collected 8,000 pounds of supplies thus far. Bonneau has built relationships with clinics and partners who redistribute the supplies to overseas organizations for clinical and educational purposes.

Bonneau says the highlight of ARMS since its founding has been reallocating 3,000 pounds of respiratory supplies and personal protective equipment to India through a local third party to alleviate the COVID-19 crisis.
Asked how he manages it all, Bonneau smiles. Basic training—which culminates in a 12-mile run with a 50-pound rucksack on your back—alters your perspective on what you can do, he says, adding, “If I can do that, I can do this.

“If you’re really passionate about something, you make it work,” Bonneau asserts. “I’ve been able to accomplish a decent amount at URI. And I haven’t had to sacrifice things like my grades to pursue nonprofit work. URI made it possible to combine my interests and to contribute to the common good.” •