More than 500 Cal Poly students and county residents sported working gloves, power drills and dirt-covered sweats to volunteer their time during various Make A Difference Day events Saturday.
Make A Difference Day, one of the nations largest single-day volunteer events, enlists students and community members to participate each year at environmental cleanups, senior centers and women and children’s shelters in local communities.
In San Luis Obispo County, organizations such as United Cerebral Palsy, Food Bank Coalition of San Luis Obispo County and 48 others benefited from the volunteers’ efforts.
Dominating the crowd of volunteers were 10 Greek fraternities and sororities including Delta Chi, Alpha Phi Omega, Sigma Kappa, Pi Kappa Alpha (PIKE) and Alpha Epsilon.
Make a Difference Day is recognized nationally and organized locally by the Cal Poly Community Center. The center’s program assistant Heather Demosthenes coordinated this year’s event.
“(We) want to get students involved in volunteer opportunities that give back to the surrounding community,” Demosthenes said. “We copied off 500 volunteer forms and had to run back and make more.”
Kinesiology senior Dylan Conrad said his fraternity, PIKE, participates in the Make a Difference Day event every year to give back to the community. The greek system’s often negative representation inspired PIKE to demonstrate that it cares, the fraternity’s community service chair Michael Jones said.
“I’m personally excited to see almost all of PIKE here today,” Conrad said. “We are out here to make a difference in our community.”
Growing Grounds Farm, a not-for-profit wholesale nursery in San Luis Obispo, invited volunteers to assist in grounds maintenance and planting as part of Make A Difference Day.
“We hardly have the time to do anything other than planting,” said Wayne Tyo, staff member at Growing Grounds. “The impact of these volunteers (was huge. It means we can get things done that we can’t normally do.”
San Luis Obispo residents Mardi Hall and Christine Escartin heard a radio segment about Make A Difference Day that sparked their interest.
“I’ve lived in San Luis Obispo for six years and I’ve wanted to volunteer,” Hall said. “I’m finally here this year with my sister … we’re ready to plant a garden.”
Hall and Escartin decided to volunteer at Growing Grounds because they often support the nursery by purchasing plants and flowers. When they were spotted covered in dirt planting tulips Escartin said “it’s going to be fun to one day come back and buy the same tulips we are planting and continue to support this garden and what it does for the community.”
Hall and Escartin decided to volunteer at Growing Grounds because they often support the nursery by purchasing plants and flowers. When they were spotted covered in dirt planting tulips Escartin said “it’s going to be fun to one day come back and buy the same tulips we are planting and continue to support this garden and what it does for the community.”