Chancellor Tom George has designated October "UMSL's Month of Giving." There will be many opportunities throughout the month for faculty, students and staff to give back to their community.
Tom George, chancellor of the University of Missouri–St. Louis, has designated October as its “Month of Giving” highlighted by the United Way Fund and Community Health Charities Drive. And this year student philanthropy will be added to the goal.
“Our total campus goal for the 2011 giving campaign is $75,000,” said Patricia Zahn, manager of UMSL’s Community Outreach and Engagement and director of the Des Lee Collaborative Vision. “With more than 15,000 students, faculty and staff on campus, that averages less than $5 per person.” Zahn is managing UMSL’s giving campaign this year.
UMSL employees will receive donation information in the campus mail next week. Information tables will be set up one day a week during October and representatives from various organizations will be on hand to answer questions.
Early in September, George sent a memo to all faculty and staff inviting them to join him to participate in the United Way and Community Health Charities campaigns.
“It’s an outstanding way in which UMSL employees can demonstrate their support for our community,” he said.
United Way funds nearly 200 local health and human service agencies that helped more than one million people last year, according to George’s memo. Community Health Charities of Kansas and Missouri is a federation of 93 local and 53 national health agencies that work to improve the lives of people affected by a disability or chronic disease.
Student organizations will ratchet up their participation in UMSL’s Month of Giving with their own projects. Here are just a few of them:
Homecoming Week – Oct. 10 – 15 – Proceeds from various activities will go to local and national organizations. Check with the Office of Student Life for a complete list of Homecoming activities.
• All student organizations will participate in a blood drive Oct. 11. Contributors can bring canned food for a local pantry instead of or in addition to giving blood.
• The Big Man on Campus competition raises money through Banner Wars, Penny Wars, the pageant and the Greeks vs. Romans kickball game. All proceeds will go to Girls Inc. in Normandy.
Zeta Tau Alpha, a social women’s fraternity, will very busy during the month of October and all proceeds of their sales and contests go to breast cancer research and education.
• The annual “Think Pink Week” is set for Oct. 24 to 27. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday that week ZTA members will be selling T-shirts, cupcakes for a cure and will hold a yogurt-eating contest.
• ZTA holds its third annual “Just Stand Up and Cheer Classic” Oct. 29 – a cheer leading competition for local high school girls. Eleven teams have registered. Competition begins at 10 a.m. in the Mark Twain Athletic and Fitness Center. ZTA raised $16,000 last year. They hope to surpass that number this year.
Students of Service will once again sponsor “Trunk or Treat,” a safe, family friendly Halloween event on Oct. 29 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Millennium Student Center south garage. There will be booths, games, prizes and candy. Families with children 12 and under in local neighborhood schools are invited.
