Restore, Recycle, Relay!! You don't have to lift a hammer to help! More than 50 volunteers turned out Saturday to help raise funds for Habitat for Humanity of Madison and Clark Counties.
Dr. Weiling Zhuang's Consumer Behavior class (MKT 350) needed a community service project and decided Habitat for Humanity was a perfect fit. They teamed up with Marketing Club students and created the Habitat for Humanity Relay event.
With very little publicity - mostly EKU Today and word of mouth - volunteers crowded into the Richmond Mall Habitat Restore to help. Gratified by the turnout, Dr. Zhuang commented, "Some of our volunteers traveled quite a ways to help out. If there had been room for additional stations, we could have done even more." He continued, "This event resulted in a great turn out that included School of Business students; EKU Sigma Alpha Epsilon Chapter; students' parents, friends, and significant others; Habitat for Humanity executives; and customers."
Areas were set up with donated items that volunteers restored - which will be available for auction. Tables were repaired and painted, some even creatively restored with colorful decoupage. Visitors and shoppers took part in the fun, too. A putting green challenged golfers to test their skill for the low price of $2.00, and the possibility of winning a small prize. All funds from the Habitat auction fundraiser will go toward Habitat builds.
Commitment of the students was evident. Because of this effort, several students are now volunteering on a weekly basis at Habitat. Their enthusiasm was contagious. Everyone learned a lot about Habitat and friends learned about EKU. Some relatives even said they would be applying to Eastern.
As an extension of the volunteerism effort, Marketing Club students did a video recording of the event. They will submit it to the 2017 American Marketing Association Best Community and Social Impact Video Competition. The competition aligns with the AMA's new Social Impact Scholarship and encourages chapters to prepare promotional videos that can be posted to a client's website.
Restore, Recycle, Relay!! was cosponsored by the Department of Management, Marketing & International Business, the Marketing Club, Marketing 350, and the University Diversity Office. Dr. Zhuang may be contacted at weiling.zhuang@eku.edu.
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