Service Learning, Phi Theta Kappa, MoPIRG and the Kirkwood community
banded together in an attempt to make a difference, on Saturday, Oct.
24. Students, faculty and community members gathered on the
STLCC-Meramec campus to execute two community service projects for
national Make a Difference Day.
The first project, MSD
Drains-to-Stream, was described by Service Learning worker Linda Krull
as, "[Taking] a little Drain-to-Stream plastic disk and [putting] it on
the sewers to remind people [to think] as they are dumping things down
the sewer, 'When I'm dumping, is this going to be of consequence down
the line?''' Krull credited Meramec's Phi Theta Kappa chapter for
organizing this particular portion of Make a Difference Day.
The
second project, honeysuckle removal, involved Kirkwood community
members such as park rangers as well as students. Paige Borelli, an
AmeriCorps Vista volunteer at Meramec, described the importance of
removing honeysuckle from the local parks. Honeysuckle is not native to
Missouri, and has become a parasite, so leaving honeysuckle to grow in
the wild can result in the deaths of trees and other native wildlife,
Borelli explained.
Borelli said she gives credit to Donna Halsband,
supervisor of the Service Learning Office, with bringing Make a
Difference Day to Meramec.
"Make a Difference Day is a national
day of service, and this all…the whole idea for having this came from
Halsband," Borelli said. "It was her brainchild."
The event, however, did not happen overnight. Halsband wanted to reach beyond the Meramec campus, so planning took many months.
"[Halsband]
began planning this in the summer with different Kirkwood organizations
because we really wanted to make it a Kirkwood community effort, not
just a school event. So, she began way back then, in the summer,"
Borelli said.
The result of their effort was multiple teams of
students and community members in the Kirkwood area doing the work with
multiple sponsors backing them. Both the Kiwanis of Kirkwood, a
volunteer organization, and Edward Jones contributed money; while two
Missouri politicians, including Senator Eric Schmitt, provided the
workforce and food.
Combining the community and on-campus
effort was important to the success of Make a Difference Day in
staffing as well as sentiment.
"We [planned] with different organizations"
