Joe Mertz Center sponsors annual Fall Work Day
FOR RELEASE: Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Huntington, Ind.-The Joe Mertz Center of Huntington University tied together campus and community Oct. 20 during the organization's annual Fall Work Day. The JMC has planned and coordinated this event to plunge students into community service since 1996. Volunteers divide up into groups, usually by floors, and are assigned a location and a project. JMC employees contact and are contacted by organizations or people who need volunteer help.
Stacie Cheek cleans a shower at the Historic Square Apartments.
This year, there were 215 volunteers including 208 students, five faculty, and two staff. Volunteers went to 18 different sites to offer assistance.
Sites and projects included the following:
Roush Lake: set up tables and activities for Halloween Festival
Parks & Recreation Department: planted trees
Life Church: painted
Amy Gould collects money for the American Red Cross Boot Shake. The students helped raise more than $1,000 for the Red Cross Disaster Relief Program.
Good Shepherd Church: cleaned and mopped the stairwells and hallways, washed the windows in the children's room
Thornhill Nature Preserve: cleared the paths, trimmed bushes, and washed windows and benches
Horace Mann Elementary School: repainted the U.S. map on the blacktop near the playground
Forester Village: picked up trash and raked
Home in the community: helped paint
Helping Paws Adoption Center: trimmed bushes and pulled weeds
Stephen Milliken trims down old roots and helps landscape at the Huntington City Township Public Library.
Huntington University Women's Auxiliary garage sale: staffed the cash register, arranged merchandise, carried purchased items, boxed items not sold, and took down tables
Huntington County Humane Shelter: dumped 55 gallon tubs of old dog food in nearby field for deer to eat, and various work projects outside
Alejandra Gomez wipes windows at the Huntington Boys and Girls Club.
Victory Noll: raked leaves, worked in the garden and visited with the sisters
Boys and Girls Club: painted, cleaned inside, mulched, cleaned gutters, pulled weeds and re-landscaped
Historic Square Apartments: painted and help remodel Karen's Cafe for the New Life Fellowship Meal Ministry, cleaned two apartments for incoming tenants
American Red Cross: took part in the Red Cross' annual Boot Shake, collecting money from people driving by manned intersections
Evelina Wongasari (front) and Saiko Yoshigami (back) pull weeds at the Helping Paws Adoption Center.
Walnuts: a ministry from Trinity Church, collecting walnuts around the community to clear the land and help raise money for the church
Huntington City Township Public Library: re-landscaped the property, trimmed hedges, pulled weeds, and planted new plants
Forks of Wabash: raked and helped in the pumpkin patch
Habitat for Humanity: took off shingling from a Park Street house and applied siding to the house.
Founded in 1992, the Joe Mertz Center for Volunteer Service has become an integral part of Huntington University campus life. During the 2006-2007 academic year, students, faculty and staff volunteered for more than 12,397.5 hours, serving more than 50 families, organizations and programs.
Huntington University's Joe Mertz Center for Volunteer Service is a student-directed organization that mobilizes the campus community for Christian service. The JMC aims to involve students in the local community, instill a lifelong tendency toward service and promote the idea that one person can make a difference. The Joe Mertz Center has been listed as an exemplary program in the John Templeton Foundation Honor Roll of Character-Building Colleges.
