Wooster's Volunteer Spirit Spreads Coast to Coast

Volunteers at Freedlander Park in Wooster were among the 800 alumni who volunteered for Scots in Service Day projects over the weekend.

» Scots in Service Web Site

WOOSTER, Ohio - They came, they saw, they planted...and pruned...and painted...and mulched...and weeded...and cleaned...and did just about anything else that was asked of them in the name of their alma mater as participants in the sixth annual Scots in Service Day on Oct. 7.

From Boston to San Francisco, Atlanta to Minneapolis, and New York to Portland, College of Wooster alumni proudly displayed their volunteer spirit by participating in community service projects in 24 cities across the country, including Hampton Roads, Va., where Scots in Service debuted with restoration and beautification efforts at the Norfolk Environmental Commission and the Norfolk Parks and Recreation Department.

"Wooster has a long history of promoting volunteerism among its undergraduates," said Sandy Nichols, director of alumni relations. "Scots in Service enables us to extend similar opportunities to our alumni as they move into their own communities.

"The event has become very special because it combines alumni passions for the College with their desire to volunteer in their hometowns," added Nichols. "It also gives them a chance to connect with parents, friends, and other alumni in their own communities, while giving us a chance to update them on what's happening on campus."

Atlanta-area alumni, for example, gathered to reminisce, while inspecting, sorting, and packing donated non-perishable food items, paper goods, medicines, and cleaning products at the Atlanta Community Food Bank's Produce Rescue Center for distribution to nearly 750 non-profit partner agencies serving 38 counties in northern Georgia. Also in the South, volunteers met at The House of Neighborly Service, a Presbyterian-affiliated social service center on the west side of San Antonio to spruce up the facility, by painting, cleaning, and organizing the clothes closet, which was started at Scots in Service last year.

In Boston, alumni and friends returned to the banks of the Charles River, where they worked with the conservancy to remove invasive species as well as trash in an effort to add luster to one of the city's crown jewels. In Chicago, an energetc group of Windy City Scots worked in Douglas Park, mulching some 60 trees to get them ready for winter, and in St. Louis, volunteers sorted, priced and stocked donations of clothing and supplies that were collected at the Society for St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store.

On the West Coast, San Francisco alumni and friends volunteered at the dining hall of the St. Anthony Foundation, where they plated, served, and bussed tables for 1,500 individuals and families. Further north, alumni in Portland spruced up the Arbor Lodge Park. On the East Coast, an intergenerational team cleaned up the Feigenspan Estate for the Community Agencies Corporation of New Jersey in Newark, while a hearty group from New York City prepared meals, organized clothing donations, and tutored in-house residents of the Bowery Mission, which offers food, shelter, showers, and clothing to homeless men, who are then challenged to enter a residential program to experience the beginning of permanent change. Also on the East Coast, Washington, D.C. volunteers made up medical folders, prepared bags for food consumers, sorted clothes, and set up a mailing at Bread for the City, an agency that provides vulnerable residents with comprehensive services, including food, clothing, medical, legal, and social.

In Cleveland, alumni and friends picked up litter and cleared out invasive species at the Euclid Creek Watershed of Wildwood Park. Down state in Columbus, volunteers spent the morning cleaning up Linden Recreation Center Park, which included picking up trash, weeding flower beds, spreading mulch, planting flowers and bulbs, and trimming trees and shrubs. Further south, the first Scots in Service Day in Cincinnati brought out alumni, spouses, and parents who helped the horticultural staff clean the greenhouse, move tropical plants indoors, and repot trees at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens. Elsewhere in Ohio, Wooster alumni gathered at Pegasus Farms near Canton, where they assisted with chores in preparation for a public anniversary celebration, while in Dayton, Wooster grads met at Carriage Hill MetroPark Farm, where they cleaned trails and gardens for a facility that serves hundreds of children and adults each year.

In Pittsburgh, participants, ranging in class year from 1944 to 2006, assisted with various projects in the Construction Junction Warehouse, such as sorting electrical hardware and restocking various departments. Meanwhile, Detroit-area alumni worked to make the Motor City more green by planting trees in the neighborhood surrounding St. Charles Church; Minneapolis-St. Paul alums teamed up with Project for Pride in Living, a non-profit organization serving low- and moderate-income persons in the Twin Cities metro area, to paint apartments and common spaces at the Louisiana Court Apartments; and Denver alumni returned to Butterfly Hope's natural science, gardening, and creative program, which allows children to interact with nature through the summer program right in their own schoolyard.

In Rochester, alumni, spouses, parents, and children gathered in Mendon Ponds Park to clear brush from walking trails and clean up trash along the shore of the pond, and in Philadelphia, efforts were made to assist with the cleaning of trails and other outdoor areas of the Briar Bush Nature Center.

Closer to campus, more than 125 volunteers, including several young families, turned out in Wooster to plant trees, mulch trails, paint bleachers, and apply sealant to the Bob Tuck Kiwanis Playground at Christmas Run Park, while others worked on the Frisbee golf course and dismantled the old backstop at Freedlander to make room for a new fast-pitch softball complex.

The Raleigh-Durham event had to be postponed because of the weather, but volunteers will gather this weekend to work with SEEDS (Southern Eastern Efforts Developing Sustainable Spaces, Inc.), an organization that hosts programs that bring people together to develop sustainable spaces, strengthen community, and address the needs of neighborhoods and schools. Wooster alumni, friends, and family will work in the gardens, repair the fences, and prune trees and other overgrown plants.

Overall, an estimated 800 alumni, students, parents, and friends combined for close to 60,000 hours of volunteer service, after which they took time catch up with other Wooster alumni and share memories over lunch. Next year, Scots in Service Day is scheduled for Sept. 29.