MiCC Member Campuses Receive National Community Service Recognition

17 colleges and universities from Michigan Campus Compact (MiCC) membership were recently named on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.  Deserving recipients include the Presidential Award Finalist, Kalamazoo College, and Honor Roll with Distinction recipients Michigan State University, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and Western Michigan University.  Albion College, Alma College, Aquinas College, Calvin College, Central Michigan University, Davenport University, Delta College, Eastern Michigan University, Kellogg Community College, Lawrence Technological University, Madonna University, and Olivet College were all recognized on the Honor Roll as well.  Congratulations to all campuses!

Campuses recognized on the Honor Roll lead volunteerism efforts across their country by offering hundreds of service-learning courses and by engaging students in community service.  Their dedication is unprecedented and their impact is impressive..  These higher education institutes are recognized nationally as leaders in the effort to better communities and reflect their historic civic missions.

Michigan Campus Compact (MICC), an affiliate organization of the Michigan Nonprofit Association and the national Campus Compact, supporting the civic engagement activities of colleges and their students in the State of Michigan.

Submitted by Hanna Porterfield, Michigan Campus Compact Communications Intern

Thanksgiving Food Collection

This fall season Michigan Nonprofit Association’s (MNA) continued its efforts to involve staff in civic engagement opportunities by coordinating an organization wide food collection intended to create complete meal boxes for local families in need. Opportunities like these help MNA staff connect with the local community, service organizations, and learn more about an existing community challenge. Food security is a real challenge for many individuals and families.

Since the beginning of October, MNA collected more than 200 food items to fill food boxes for six families. The food boxes were distributed through Northwest Initiative in Lansing to families who have a student participating in the weekend backpack program at a local school and to a family who has a student enrolled in a LEAGUE Michigan school in the Detroit area.

Northwest Initiative is a neighborhood based organization who serves individuals in the northwest region of Lansing. One of their programs includes the weekend backpack program that provides a backpack full of food for students who would otherwise not have consistent access to food for the days they are not in school.  The food boxes made up of the items donated by MNA staff were designed to help feed the student and their family for the five days of the Thanksgiving break when the student would not receive breakfast or lunch at school.

Northwest Initiative works closely with the Greater Lansing Food Bank to help increase the food stability of the families they serve. The boxes donated by MNA not only support a student and their family but allow Northwest Initiative to serve additional families with the food resources they receive from the food bank and individual donations.

The Thanksgiving holiday offers a reminder about the critical role food has for families and communities but it is important to remember the need exists year round. Because of the success of this project and the partnerships it helped MNA develop, future food collection efforts can be coordinated year round as the community need arises.

Submitted by Chelsea Martin Program Coordinator, Michigan Nonprofit Association

Support the Troops!

Veterans Day is Thursday, November 11, and Youth Service America through its “Get Ur Good On” program shared the following ideas and resources for how you can support the troops!

10 Ways to Get Ur Good On to Support the Troops
1. On Veterans Day, plan a service project in honor of military members and invite them to join you. Mission Serve has lots of potential projects listed: www.missionserve.org/pages/plan-a-project
2. Rock a yellow ribbon! Request a free yellow ribbon from Yellow Ribbon America and wear it during November. www.yellowribbonamerica.org
3. Gather a group of friends and make holiday cards to send to troops. The website A Million Thanks has letter drop off locations across America; find one near you: http://amillionthanks.org/Drop_Off_Locations.asp
4. Visit, thank and honor hospitalized veterans at a Department of Veterans Affair medical center, clinic or nursing home. Find out about their student volunteer program here: http://www.volunteer.va.gov/StudentProgram.asp
5. Bake cookies! Is one of your family members deployed right now or do you have a friend with a deployed family member? Bake cookies to send to them. Treats for Soldiers has tips on how to ship the cookies. www.treatthetroops.org/tips.htm
6. Halloween is over and you probably have a lot of Halloween candy left over and your candy can go to a good use. Several organizations are currently collecting candy donations to add to care packages they send to deployed soldiers. Visit Operation Gratitude at www.halloweencandybuyback.com or Operation Shoebox at www.operationshoebox.com
7. Have a cell phone drive and send collected phones to Cell Phones for Soldiers. They send the donated cell phones to ReCellular, which pays them for each donated phone – the money provides an hour of talk time to soldiers abroad. www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com/becomeDropoff.html
8. Host a “Support the Troops” drive at your school and collect items to send to the organization Give 2 the Troops. View the list of items they can accept; there is a huge variety of items you can collect! www.give2thetroops.org/items.htm
9. Become a USO volunteer! They have volunteer opportunities in the US and Europe. You can help out at a special event, cheer for troops at a homecoming, man a front desk, or provide a listening ear to a soldier. Visit the site for more volunteer info: www.uso.org/ways-to-volunteer.aspx
10. Help collect and preserve the remembrances of American war veterans and civilian workers who supported them by participating in the Library of Congress’s Veterans History Project. www.loc.gov/vets/vets-home.html