MU students take care of Columbia

By Emily Roman

Published April 8, 2008

Between 350 and 400 MU students were greeted with the smell of freshly brewed coffee, juice, bagels, donuts and the sound of The Forgotten Children Brass Band early Saturday morning in Conservation Auditorium for the 15th annual Caring for Columbia.

Caring for Columbia was first introduced after the flood of 1993, Tri-Director Jamie McCune said. MU students volunteered at about 30 different agencies around the Columbia area. They lent their time anywhere from the adult day cares helping the elderly to working at the Central Missouri Food Bank.

The volunteers give the agencies enough labor and volunteer help to pick up extra things their staff cannot, said McCune.

McCune said they were lucky to have such good weather for outside work compared to last year’s weather.

Most students signed in at 8 a.m., helped themselves to a “Caring for Columbia...Giving Back Columbia Style” T-shirt and free breakfast. As the first group left at 8:30 a.m., the next group of students signed in and departed at 9 a.m. Depending on how much the agency needed the volunteers to complete, students came back between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m.

Some Greek students volunteered Saturday to give back to the community while earning points for their fraternity or sorority for Greek Week.

For those students who are not involved in Greek life, Caring for Columbia is a way to meet new people, McCune said.

Planning for the event started in fall 2007. Applications and interviews to join the steering committee and become a site leader, the head of a group of volunteers, began at this time as well.

Pinnacles Youth Park site leader Mary Foster first volunteered last year and decided to become a site leader this year.

Her group consisted of about 35 people who spread gravel over a parking lot, painted a shelter house and helped with an Adopt-a-Highway project.

Foster said she looked forward to seeing how much they accomplished at the end of the day.

Lenoir Wood Retirement Center site leader Adam Hickey said he and his group of volunteers would be helping set up and clean up a game of bingo while “hanging out with the old folk.” Hickey is a former member of the Maneater staff.

Beginning in January, the Sponsorship Committee worked to contact local companies to ask if they would donate breakfast and lunch for the volunteers, Sponsorship Committee member Lindsey Hoffman said.

They picked up food from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. and brought it to those students who did not make it back by noon for lunch.

“People who did volunteer (food) were more than willing to,” Sponsorship Committee member Mallory Burke said.

Around 20 different businesses donated food and drinks.

“This is an easy way to give back for students,” McCune said. “It is a one-day commitment so that people with busy schedules can easily give back to the Columbia community.”