Make a Difference Day brings campus together
This past weekend CSU students, staff and faculty donated their
time and goods to help Fort Collins during the annual Make a
Difference Day.
“Make a Difference Day helps meet the needs in the community,”
said Patti Schmitt, the volunteer center program manager at
FirstCall. “It also just helps to build communication; it helps
people to start talking.”
FirstCall is a Larimer County organization that helps to connect
volunteers with the community’s needs.
Make a Difference Day is a national project that was started by
USA Weekend Magazine 10 years ago. Larimer County has been
participating in it for the past four years, as has the CSU
community. This year the county had more than 1,400 people
committed to being involved with Make a Difference Day.
There were activities all last week with Friday and Saturday
being the biggest days. Major projects included helping at the
Habitat for Humanity Thrift Store, setting up the Crossroads
Safehouse Santa Shop and helping fireproof Horsetooth Park.
Delta Sigma Pi fraternity helped out at the Habitat for Humanity
Thrift Store on Saturday by helping to build some storage
sheds.
“We got more done (that day) than any other day,” said Alan
Plumer, a senior construction management major who is the building
coordinator for the CSU chapter of Habitat for Humanity.
The sheds are being built to hold large-sized donations, such as
washers and dryers, which Habitat for Humanity receives.
As a construction management major, Plumer said he loves having
the opportunity to gain work experience and volunteer at the same
time.
Another fraternity also participated in Make a Difference Day by
organizing a leaf-raking project. For the past four years Pi Kappa
Phi has raked leaves for the houses in its neighborhood and has
also driven around picking up the bagged leaves other volunteers
have raked throughout Fort Collins.
“This project helps relations between us and our neighbors,”
said Adam Timmons, a junior construction management major. “It
helps to break down stereotypes that the elderly often have about
sororities and fraternities.”
Timmons has found the leaf-raking project to be a positive
situation for everyone involved.
“It’s a win-win situation,” he said. “We get to volunteer and
the community gets to learn about us.”
Schmitt has also found that an important aspect of Make a
Difference Day is its ability to bring CSU students and community
members together.
“Everyone has their own reason to (participate in Make a
Difference Day),” Schmitt said. “But one reason for most everyone
is that people like the way it makes them feel.”
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