MOST OUTSTANDING COMMUNITY SERVICE/INVOLVEMENT NOMINEE
University of Southern Mississippi Vietnamese Student Association
USMVSA X The Crosby Aboretum
Provide a detailed description of the event and the population it served. Details MUST include: date of event, number of participants, program purpose (goals, objectives, etc.) and use of resources (finances, community support, etc.).
On October 6th & February 18th some of our members went and volunteered at the Crosby Arboretum which is in Picayune, Mississippi. We probably had about 12-18 people from both Phi Kappa Tau and our VSA went each time. The Crosby Arboretum is dedicated to educating the public about their environment. This mission is carried out by preserving, protecting, and displaying plants native to the Pearl River Drainage Basin ecosystem, providing environmental and botanical research opportunities, and offering cultural, scientific, and recreational programs. This is a collaborative event that a lot of our members have enjoyed taking part in as the scenery is nice and it is a cool experience. Most of it is manual labor to help around with the arboretum. Some things that volunteering entailed was cleaning up the plants that covered the top layer of the pavilion lake and removing lumber off of the old decks. Those plants were then taken to be composted.
What efforts were used to motivate and involve the organization's members?
Since it is a community service event we offered volunteering hours to those who would come help. To make it more accessible for our members, we would vote on days that more members were available and provided snacks & carpooling as well. This gave our members time to bond/spend time together and admire mother nature.
