Creating the future of volunteers
By LAYLA ASLANI, DMG WriterHOUGHTON - Have old tennis shoes laying around your house? Michigan Technological University's Student Activities Office is looking for them.
This semester, the office kicked off two new volunteer programs, Semester Collection and Service Saturdays, in order to emphasize community service on campus. This semester's collection gathers athletic shoes for Nike's Reuse-A-Shoe program, which turns the worn out shoes into a material used for sports surfaces, playgrounds and new products.
Tech's goal is to collect 2,500 pairs of sneakers. To date, approximately 100 pairs have been brought in, with many of them coming from a shoe drive a residence hall group did. Assistant Director of Student Activities Rachel Wussow knows many households have unused, old shoes and asks that people bring them to her office at room 112 in the Memorial Union Building.
"We just assumed that all of us have many pairs of old tennis shoes lying around and that we could gather a bunch and do something different on the Tech campus," she said, adding that she donated some shoes. "My own two, three pairs that I don't wear anymore can go toward a better cause than just throwing them into the garbage can."
Wussow said people donating or collecting old shoes do not have to be affiliated with Tech, however, not any shoe can be donated. The shoes cannot contain metal, nor can they be dress shoes, cleats, wet or damp, she said. The parts of the shoes that are recycled include rubber and foam from the sole, as well as the fabric, she said.
The office's second program, Semester Saturdays, allows students to get out and volunteer once a month. The projects are inspired by the season, Wussow said.
"We try to do a variety to try and change it up," she said. "We really look at the calendar to see what is a Tech event or what is seasonal for this area, or for the Keweenaw area."
This past Saturday, volunteers walked dogs and played with cats at the Copper Country Humane Society and also prepared the Tech Trails for the upcoming winter.
Wussow said the prospect of the trails being trimmed was looking dim due to the weather, but a small group was able to clear the Tanglewood Trail.
"Some dedicated students showed up," she said. "I had a group of five gentlemen show and and they said 'Let's do this' so we went out and finished the entire project."
Ali Jahnke, student event planner with the Tech student activities office, said Service Saturdays have been well-received because it connects students with diverse volunteer opportunities.
"They want to volunteer and they want to help out, but they don't really know where to look, but by doing these Service Saturdays, we've coordinated it and we say, 'Hey, come out and we can do it together.'"
Future events include projects involving the Omega House, the Big Foot Snowshoe Event, Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly, playground and trail maintenance and Arbor Day. Next semester's collection will be for electronics. For more information, visit www.sa.mtu.edu/community or call 487-1963.
Layla Aslani can be reached at laslani@mininggazette.com.
