{"id":274,"date":"2008-12-22T13:53:02","date_gmt":"2008-12-22T13:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.wabash.edu\/fyi\/2008\/12\/22\/spirit-of-giving\/"},"modified":"2008-12-22T13:53:02","modified_gmt":"2008-12-22T13:53:02","slug":"spirit-of-giving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/2008\/12\/22\/spirit-of-giving\/","title":{"rendered":"Spirit of Giving"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jim Amidon<\/em> \u2014 As I sat down to write this last Friday, I did so with a smile on my face. I had just finished writing a few brief stories about some of the good works Wabash students had done as the semester wound to a close. Before long, I was beaming with pride.<\/p>\n

And since Wabash seemed to get its fair share of bad press this fall, it occurred to me that it was high time to focus a shining light on some of the lesser-known good deeds I discovered.<\/p>\n

\"\"Perhaps you saw the picture in last Friday\u2019s paper of the four Sphinx Club members presenting a check to Andy Ford at the Montgomery County Family Crisis Shelter. I drove over with Sphinx Club President Kyle Hayes and members Elliott Allen, Kevin Long, and Denver Wade when the students handed over checks for about $1,200.<\/p>\n

The money came from the Sphinx Club\u2019s annual fund-raiser, Co-Motion, the proceeds from which go the Family Crisis Shelter here in Crawfordsville and the Julian Center in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n

Co-Motion is a joint fund-raising competition between Wabash and DePauw; the two schools spend the month of November raising money for local domestic violence shelters \u2014 and raising awareness of the horrors of domestic violence.<\/p>\n

When I got back to campus after taking the picture of this year\u2019s check presentation, I asked my friend Terri Fyffe to look up some numbers. I was shocked \u2014 and thrilled \u2014 to learn from Terri that Wabash\u2019s Co-Motion donations to the Family Crisis Shelter have totaled more than $9,800 in just the last three years.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the week, I learned that the Wabash Student Senate voted to donate $1,000 to insulate a Habitat for Humanity house near campus, a house on which a number of Wabash students have worked throughout the fall.<\/p>\n

The same night the students voted to pay for the Habitat house\u2019s insulation, they also voted to adopt more children in this year\u2019s REINdear program.<\/p>\n

The Wabash chapter of Alpha Phi Omega, a national service fraternity, had been collecting REINdear money from students all across campus. The Student Senate added another $1,000, and by the time the finals week ended, Wabash students had purchased toys and clothes for 50 REINdear children in our community to provide for them a merrier Christmas.<\/p>\n

Thanks, as well, to the faculty and staff at Wabash for their efforts to provide REINdear gifts for 43 more children in our community.<\/p>\n

Philanthropy seems to be in the air, which is a good thing when so many families are facing such hardships.<\/p>\n

Speaking of philanthropy, did you know that the folks who own the two new coffee shops in town, Good to Go Xpresso, are making donations to our local schools?<\/p>\n

\"\"Swing by and ask for a punch card for Wabash. Each time you purchase an espresso, coffee, or smoothie, get your card punched. You\u2019ll not only save a buck on a future drink, you\u2019ll be helping out the College.<\/p>\n

Last Thursday, I went with my colleague Joe Emmick to meet Sharon and Kurt Conklin, the coffee shops\u2019 owners (left). They presented Joe with a check from the first few months of the Wabash punch card program. The donations will be pooled over time, and will provide a scholarship for a Montgomery County student who attends Wabash.<\/p>\n

What a cool business model, I thought as I left the coffee shop on 231 south.<\/p>\n

On the way home, it occurred to me that we have a lot of local businesses that do similar good deeds. You see it when Johnny Provolone\u2019s turns over its restaurant to the Sugar Creek Players or a youth group. You see it when kids are bagging groceries at County Market, and when Applebee\u2019s has special nights when proceeds go back into our community.<\/p>\n

As 2008 comes to a close, many in our community face uncertain futures. Many among us will lose their jobs, while others will see their hours and their pay reduced.<\/p>\n

While that causes us to fear that 2009 will enter with fury, it is heartening to know that this is a community that reaches out to extend a helping hand to those in need.<\/p>\n

It is my hope that all of us can ride out this storm by realizing that there is enormous strength in our numbers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jim Amidon \u2014 As I sat down to write this last Friday, I did so with a smile on my face. I had just finished writing a few brief stories about some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"w_featured_image_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}