University’s Spring Work Day meets community needs
FOR RELEASE: Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Amanda Prior, a junior educational ministries major from Van Wert, Ohio, rakes leaves for the City of Huntington's Parks and Recreation Department. Huntington, Ind.-Huntington University's Joe Mertz Center for Volunteer Service sponsored Spring Work Day on April 12. Groups comprised of 170 students, five faculty and two staff completed work projects at 15 sites in Huntington. Sites and tasks included
Helping Paws Cat Adoption Center: Spring house cleaning, scrubbing floors, washing windows, cleaning the garage, and pulling out dead trees to put in the burn pile
Boys and Girls Club of Huntington County: outdoor spring cleaning, cleaning the windows, and inside work
City of Huntington's Parks and Recreation Department: cleaning up in the downtown mall district, raking, mulching, and sweeping off sidewalks.
Jacob Workman, a freshman digital media arts major from Wooster, Ohio, picks up sticks at Good Shepherd Church.
Huntington County American Red Cross: cleaning and re-organizing the Disaster truck and trailer, assisting with the annual check-up on the truck, helping set up two compactable computer stations that will be used if a shelter is needed
Forester Village: general pick-up in Forester Village and cleaning in the woods
Colin Whitehurst (left), a junior digital media arts major from Villa Park, Ill., and Ryan Barger, a sophomore digital media arts major from Warsaw, Ind., clean up around the Boys and Girls Club of Huntington County.
Habitat for Humanity of Huntington County of Huntington County, Inc.: laying concrete blocks
Huntington County Solid Waste Department: picking up litter in Salamonie and the Huntington Reservoir
Huntington City-Township Public Library: mulching, sprucing up landscape
Parkview Huntington Family YMCA: getting ready for garage sale; sorting and pricing items
The United States Vice Presidential Museum: cleaning out the museum house
Kids Kampus: sprucing up outside, fixing the butterfly garden, general garden cleanup.
Forks of the Wabash: cleaning up building and picking up grounds
Victory Noll: cleaning up the garden and visiting with the sisters
Salvation Army Huntington Corps: raking, picking up twigs in the front and back, sweeping asphalt off of the sidewalk
Good Shepherd Church: outside work
"Our aim for Spring Work Day is that it would be an opportunity for our campus to come together and help out different organizations in town that are doing a great deal of good work in the community," said Adam Shoemaker, student director for the Joe Mertz Center. "It also serves as a springboard for students to get involved in Huntington. Often, students first experience serving in town through one of our work days or the new student plunge at the start of the year, so we hope that this one Saturday morning might spark something in a student that leads them to further service throughout their years at Huntington University and the rest of their life."
Donations from local businesses and campus organizations including the Student Activities Board, Student Senate and the Huntingtonian went toward purchasing T-shirts and breakfast for participants.
