 "Photo: Emily White")
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.
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