Alumni Council News

Thirteen-year-old Bethany Willig has never taken a class at Grinnell College, but as the daughter of a faculty member and an alumni couple, she feels linked to its strong tradition of service. That connection also is in large part due to her participation in the College’s inaugural Global Day of Service during June 2015. “You could feel the togetherness in the air,” she said. “It felt good to be surrounded by people who wanted to help others. And, we looked good in our matching T-shirts,” she joked.

On or close to June 10, Founders’ Day, Grinnellians not only looked good in their uniform red T-shirts that read #GCDayofService; they also “did good” by performing individual and group community service projects around the world. More than 365 people volunteered for this joint community effort. They represented 12 countries and 68 cities across 29 states and ranged in age from 4 to 75.

They engaged in Alumni Regional Planning Committee projects that included sorting donated clothing for at-risk youth at Cradles to Crayons in Massachusetts; painting fences for Partnerships for Parks in New York; collecting over 500 pounds of waste before any damage to marine life could occur in the Puget Sound area; clearing weeds and planting trees near the National AIDS Memorial in the San Francisco Bay area; and constructing 1,800 feet of trail to replace flood-damaged areas in Colorado.

Many participants expressed their gratitude for the event. Kristin Stout ’89 from Minneapolis says, “I appreciated the fellowship in volunteering with Grinnellians on behalf of our community and felt fortunate to be able to support Second Harvest’s mission by packaging pasta for distribution to their food-insecure clients.”

In cities like Cincinnati where there were no regional planning committees, Grinnellians came together to provide key community services such as painting a house for lower income residents. In Guatemala, a small group that included Jenny Dale ’06 and Lisa Hetzel ’00 planted trees as part of a reforestation project called Plantemos 1000 Arboles. Others worked solo, like Ashorkor Tetteh ’04, who volunteered with a nonprofit fair trade organization in Montreal, Quebec, to educate the public about fair trade, sustainable development, and socially responsible purchases.

Overall, the Global Day of Service was a huge success. Alumni Council members are eager to partner again with the Office of Development and Alumni Relations to plan the second annual Global Day of Service. Grinnell alumni are also looking forward to the next installment. As Amanda Keledjian ’08, who helped plant native species to improve water quality in the Anacostia watershed near the District of Columbia, says, “Everyone worked really hard and had huge smiles on their faces at the end. I think it really showed that Grinnellians of all ages still love to give back to their communities, which is a quality we all learned to cherish in our time at the College. Everyone is already excited about next year’s event and is inspired to continue doing service projects as a group.”

To see more photos from Grinnell’s Global Day of Service, visit bit.ly/1MwX86i.