RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. (November 21, 2007)--Luci Zieman is accustomed to thinking of others. Her job as resident director for Baswell Residence Hall at Arkansas Tech University requires her to look out for the well-being of 234 Tech students on a daily basis.
But her latest project extended well beyond the doors of Baswell Hall and into the homes of local families who needed help to enjoy the blessings of Thanksgiving.
Zieman organized Helping Halls, a project by the Arkansas Tech Office of Residential Life that encouraged Tech students to collect sets of 11 traditional Thanksgiving meal items --- turkey gravy, sweet potatoes, green beans, corn, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberries, pumpkin pie filling, pie crust, condensed milk and marshmallow whip mix --- and donate them to the Salvation Army for distribution to families in need.
Helping Halls had a project goal of collecting 100 sets of food. Tech students answered the call, and on Friday, Nov. 16, 123 sets of Thanksgiving food were delivered to the Salvation Army office in Russellville.
The donations from Tech students will help the Salvation Army feed more than half of the 200 families it planned to assist during the holiday.
“Being able to say that we helped over half of the Russellville families in need is tremendous,” said Zieman, a native of El Dorado, Kan., and a graduate student at Tech. “The student response was amazing for the first year. Tech students have big hearts and are always thinking of the needs of others.”
Marty Sabolo, Tech director of housing and associate dean of students, agreed that there seems to be a growing trend toward volunteerism among Tech students.
“I think we are seeing a shift where students want the opportunity to give back,” said Sabolo. “Last year, we did a benchmarking survey with students and our results were compared with more than 200 institutions. The results indicated that students wanted more opportunities for community service.
“This project is just the beginning of our initiative to increase our community service,” continued Sabolo. “We are looking at carrying this Helping Halls theme throughout the year and implementing an entire schedule of programs that will allow our students to help those in need year-round.”
Alexis Brown, senior mechanical engineering major from Greenwood, said that healthy competition between the residence halls to see which one would donate the most sets of food helped the project succeed.
“I think it was a huge success when you consider the number of sets and the number of people who were willing to contribute,” said Brown. “People think that college students are apathetic, but the fact that this drive generated this kind of response proves that incorrect.”
