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Day of Service unites Spartans

April 20, 2015
<p>Volunteers help out for Spartans WILL. POWER Global Day of Service April 18, 2015, at the Greater Lansing Food Bank community garden in East Lansing. The service day brings together spartan alumni, friends, students, faculty and staff from around the world to help their local communities. Hannah Levy/The State News</p>

Volunteers help out for Spartans WILL. POWER Global Day of Service April 18, 2015, at the Greater Lansing Food Bank community garden in East Lansing. The service day brings together spartan alumni, friends, students, faculty and staff from around the world to help their local communities. Hannah Levy/The State News

Photo by Hannah Levy | The State News

The Spartans WILL. POWER Global Day of Service started in 2012 as a way for MSU students and alumni to come together for one day and show the affect that they can have on generating positive change.

Hosted by the MSU Association of Future Alumni, the day focused on getting as many students to participate as possible, said event coordinator and packaging and supply chain management senior Sara Bork.

Various organizations throughout Lansing took part in the Day of Service, welcoming MSU students to come and take part in a multitude of service projects.

Julie Lehman, the garden program coordinator of the Greater Lansing Food Bank, worked with students at a community garden where they moved compost, completed minor repairs and helped out with general spring cleaning.

Lehman said their partnership with the Day of Service has been beneficial to the community gardens over the years.

In addition to helping organizations they volunteer for, the students that participated in the Day of Service are able to experience and learn things they might not have a chance to otherwise.

“I didn’t know this garden was here,” social science junior Kaitlin Powers said. “And they told us that there are actually a lot of these around Lansing. With everything they do, community members can come here and have their own garden, and they also give food to community members. It’s amazing.”

Students also had the chance to meet and work with new people and work toward a common goal of improving the community.

“Every single time you volunteer, you learn something different and you get to meet and work with such great people,” human biology senior Zakiya Sulieman said.

Bork said that the Day of Service provides a unique opportunity for Spartans to be recognized for the work that they do in the community.

“There (are) Spartans all over the world that are volunteering daily, but it’s not recognized as much, so this is a day for all Spartans to get recognized and for us to show the power that we have,” Bork said.

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