Sustain Mizzou hopes for growth, recycling
Published Aug. 31, 2007
Sustain Mizzou's first meeting Wednesday drew about 70 students to the meeting, which exceeded last year's first meeting attendance of 64 students.
"Sustain Mizzou is growing quickly and steadily," Sustain Mizzou President Ben Datema said. "Since we had so many new people sign up at Summer Welcome, we planned for up to 100 people to come to the meeting tonight."
Programs being run by Sustain Mizzou include a fundraiser in which recycled notebooks are sold for $2 each, Tiger Tailgate Recycling and a program in which members grow organic vegetables on a local farm.
Tiger Tailgate Recycling, which is in its third year of operation, won an award for Best Higher Education Recycling Program from the Missouri Recycling Association in 2005.
Sustain Mizzou volunteers collected 12 tons of material during six home football games in 2005 and 19 tons of material during seven home football games in 2006, Datema said.
Those programs were discussed during the meeting and new members were given a chance to get involved.
"We like to take people's majors to fit what we do here," Datema said. "Whatever your major is, we can probably make that work."
Sustain Mizzou Treasurer Adam Saunders spoke about "spiritual epiphany," based off the theory of "Nature-Deficit Disorder" presented by Richard Louv in his book "Lost Child in the Woods."
"When you spend time outside, you connect with nature, and it becomes something you value," Saunders said. "If you value it, you're going to work to protect it, and it helps the environment for all people."
Attendees broke into small groups during the meeting to talk about their own spiritual epiphanies, including Patrick Margherio, vice president of programming for Sustain Mizzou.
"When I was young, we went to my family's farm," Margherio said. "It was really cool to be surrounded by nature. It got me really interested in conserving nature to keep it around so that others can enjoy it."
The message reached freshman Erica Martin, who said she first heard about Sustain Mizzou at Summer Welcome.
"I come from out of state," Martin said. "Sustain Mizzou is a great way to get to know people and the community at once, all while doing something philanthropic."
Upcoming events include the Big Muddy Wildlife Float trip on Sept. 29 and a local food drive that is taking place Oct. 8-12.
Sustain Mizzou collects money during the week and then buys food from local farmers. That food is then delivered to the Central Missouri Food Bank. The food drive raised $3,000 last year.
"The food is distributed to local people," Sustain Mizzou member Angie Woods said. "It is good for the environment and local people are able to get fresh products such as eggs, vegetables and fruits."
Steve Burdic, solid waste and recycling coordinator for MU's Landscape Services, said the organization has done great things for the campus.
"This group has so much power to do good things its not even funny," Burdic said. "It starts with you in here."
Although the meeting did not reach of Datema's goal of 100 students, Sustain Mizzou is still continuing to gain new members.
"I will definitely come back," Martin said. "I'm always looking to get involved, and it's nice to have such a great opportunity at your doorstep."
Sustain Mizzou holds its meetings at 7 p.m. every other Wednesday in Allen Auditorium.