Make a Difference Day in Whitewater a huge success
Released: October 4, 2005
More than 450 UW-Whitewater students volunteered to spend three hours on Friday afternoon, Sept. 30, helping make a difference in Whitewater.
Their mission: To clean up the city.
“The turnout was incredible,” Barbara Jones, assistant chancellor for student affairs said. “Our goal was 200 volunteers.”
Friday’s event, which was a collaborative effort between the campus and the City of Whitewater, was the latest in a number of community service projects that take UW-Whitewater students to area nursing homes, schools and other organizations.
The 2004-05 academic year included 261 community service projects by university students and organizations with more than 5000 students involved in those projects. Donations from those public service events totaled nearly $40,000.
“I think this event showed that UW-Whitewater students are really willing to give to the community, but sometimes they don’t know how,” UW-Whitewater Student Leadership Associate Director Jan Bilgen said.
On Sept. 30, students were transported to a number of areas around the city for clean-up duty, from downtown to the shores of Cravath and Tripp lakes.
Jennifer Ross and Janelle Chochola participated with their residence halls. Their assignment was to help clean up the parking lots, sidewalks and boulevards in the downtown area.
“Just driving by, you don’t realize the amount of trash that can accumulate along the street,” Ross said. “Today (Sept. 30) gave us the opportunity to make the city look a lot better,” Chochola said. “It also gave us the opportunity to make a difference, and that makes you feel good.”
“It is really awesome to have that type of partnership,” Whitewater community development director Gene Hackbarth said. “People from the general community, as well as the student population, are concerned about the appearance of the downtown and lakes area of the city. Participating in this program offers a great respect to the community.”
“There really is a kind of ‘Warhawk spirit’ that people aren’t aware of,” Bilgen said. “The students took their job seriously and provided three hours of useful community service on Friday afternoon and that is pretty impressive.”
- Tom Pattison,pattisot@uww.edu
