By Joy Gleason
The New Citizens Press
Ready to Work!!
Baker Donora receives new butterfly garden from Modern Woodmen of America camps. Children and adults worked side by side to make a
difference.
The families of Willow Elementary School and their neighbors, families and friends gathered on Saturday afternoon with Project Green volunteers for a community cookout. The community cookout is the final event for the year for Project Green. Many students from Michigan State University (MSU) volunteered to spruce up the grounds of the school as well as eight Target managers from all across the state and a Lear Corporation executive. Activities for the children included ultimate frisbee, kickball, and face painting. In addition to the usual hot dogs and hamburgers, the cook out was also vegetarian friendly with veggie sandwiches, fruit cups and salad also offered.
Project Green, an outreach project of MSU’s Lear Corporation Career Services Center and the MSU Career Services Network, holds community service events throughout the year in the northwest Lansing area. Many of the events involve the students of Willow Elementary School. “We return annually to Willow because we love the community. The kids here are really great,” says Erin Crouch, the coordinator of the community cookout.
In addition to the community cookout, Project Green also hosts a Halloween parade for Willow students, an afternoon of ice skating at Munn Arena, a Valentine’s card workshop and a book drive.
May Day, May Day
Another community event was sponsored by Modern Woodmen of America on May 2nd. It was Join Hands Day.
On the first Saturday in May, fraternalists and non-fraternalists alike come together for Join Hands Day to make a difference in their communities through helpful projects that connect youths and adults.
Join Hands Day gives fraternal benefit societies and volunteer organizations the opportunity to reach out to people they don’t know, to connect generations and to develop new relationships.
Two Modern Woodmen of America camps purchased $300.00 worth of plants and worked for three hours to transform a plot on the Baker Donora Community Center lot. Kyle Kirkby from the Garden Project, as well as, past employee of Baker Donora and resident, helped design the children’s butterfly garden with perennials.
Coordinator Anita Moneypenny exclaimed, “This was such a wonderful idea so that we do not have to continue purchasing plants each year! This was an absolute treat!”
