SU Continues to Give Back as Holidays Approach

SALISBURY, MD---As the holiday season approaches, so do a number of volunteer opportunities in which Salisbury University students, faculty and staff members traditionally participate. While the COVID-19 pandemic may have changed the look of some of these activities, the SU community continues to make helping others a priority.

Perhaps the biggest annual volunteer event of the season is “The Big Event,” organized by the Student Government Association. Rescheduled to November from last spring due to COVID-19, some 130 students gave their time to help campus neighbors by raking leaves and doing other light yardwork at their homes.

Assistance to community members comes in many different forms, and one that has been a consistent offering at SU has been the construction of wheelchair accessibility ramps at the homes of those in need.

Working with Chesapeake Housing Mission, the most recent ramp was completed in November in Ocean Pines, MD, by SU staff members. The University community has participated in four such projects this year, and organizers hope to resume SU’s previous pace of about 10 ramps per year once COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.

The SU community also is helping seniors in the area this winter, participating in Home Instead Senior Care’s annual “Be a Santa to a Senior” campaign. Faculty, staff and others selected ornaments bearing the names of local seniors, along with their wish lists for the holidays, and will purchase gifts from those lists for distribution. The initiative helps provide joy for many seniors who may be in need or alone for the holidays.

Delmarva Public Media (DPM), a public radio partnership between SU and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, is working with the Maryland Food Bank Eastern Shore to make the holidays happier for some local families this year.

The organization is committing 10 percent of each new donation during its annual year-end campaign, through Thursday, December 31, to the food bank. The Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore has committed to match DPM’s donation up to $2,500. The stations’ staffers also are volunteering at the food bank.

Historically, some of SU’s most active groups in charitable fundraising and volunteer efforts are fraternities, sororities and other student organizations. This season is no different.

Among their most recent efforts, SU’s chapter of the Delta Gamma sorority held a pair of fundraisers to benefit its philanthropy, Service for Sight, providing assistance for the visually impaired. The Omega Psi Phi and Phi Beta Sigma fraternities held clothing drives, and the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity conducted a turkey drive for families in need.

Members of the SU Police Department showed their dedication by participating in No Shave November. SUPD members were given the option to not shave throughout the month of November – something normally prohibited – with a minimum donation of $30 to support juvenile cancer patients on the Eastern Shore.

An institution of higher learning is not only about what happens in the classroom. Civic engagement also is a pillar of an SU education. With that in mind, students in Dr. Diana Wagner’s outdoor education leadership course on kayaking spent time on the water this semester removing garbage and litter, gathering more than 100 pounds of waste from local waterways. Their efforts marked the third year of this initiative.

Students, faculty and staff at SU come from all over Maryland, the U.S. and beyond, but during the academic year, they all call Salisbury home. The examples listed here are just a few of the ways in which they work to make that home a better place for all.

For more information call 410-543-6030 or visit the SU website.