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Spartans across US, world volunteer during service day

April 14, 2013

Although alumna Libby DuBay has lived in Los Angeles since graduating in 1985, she remains an active member of the Spartan family.

“Your education that you get in college isn’t a four-year experience, it’s a lifetime,” said DuBay, a member of the Los Angeles MSU Alumni Club. “It’s part of what defines you, and I think you never really forget that.”

Wearing green and white, DuBay was one of more than 1,000 alumni and students who contributed to the “Spartans Will. Power: A Global Day of Service” on Saturday. There were about 100 community service projects hosted by alumni across the world and more than 30 student projects in the Greater Lansing area.

The MSU Alumni Association helped organize the day of service for the first time, and participants had the chance to either join an existing project or start their own, said Kim Kittleman, director of major market engagement with the MSU Alumni Association and organizer of the overall event.
DuBay said she helped organize a project in southern California to plant and remove non-native species in the Ballona Wetlands.

Other national projects included hosting a book giveaway in California to benefit the Magic Johnson Community Empowerment Center in Carson, Calif., and planting trees in Detroit to benefit the Greening of Detroit charity. International projects included a beach cleanup in Hong Kong and playing with the children in a Korean orphanage.

Kittleman said participants did not have to be alumni, and some brought friends and family to help with the service projects.

“The feeling you get from helping someone … It’s amazing,” Kittleman said. “To be able to do that with fellow Spartans, and to do good and make difference … is exciting for a lot of people.”

Alumnus Doug Heffner, a Fort Myers, Fla., resident and Greater Fort Myers Area MSU Alumni Club board member, helped organize a project to help with maintenance work on a local Salvation Army.
Heffner said he is proud of his MSU education and the diversity and spirit of campus helped prepare him do community service.

“When I came (to Florida,) I immediately went to find the (MSU) Alumni Association,” Heffner said. “I wanted to get involved and I wanted to meet the people.”

Alumnus Jon Coleman, a Mid-Michigan Spartans board member, helped organize a volunteer project at Haven House in East Lansing, which is a shelter to help homeless families get back on their feet.

Coleman said there was such a large demand for assistance Saturday they exceeded the volunteer limit at Haven House and had to turn some volunteers down.

“We’ve had people really excited about it,” Coleman said.

After DuBay’s service project, she said participants ate together at a restaurant on the beach where they were given special green tablecloths and deals.

“It’s a forever commitment, it’s a forever involvement and attachment and loyalty, and it’s part of who you are,” DuBay said. “That’s how the Spartans do it — that’s how we roll.”

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