Nonprofit with GVSU roots unites volunteers for projects 在密歇根

在No . Shelter的阴影下. 贝尔岛公园8号 Detroit, 酒店与旅游管理教授 帕蒂琼斯 有时间喘口气吗. 

It’s been a hectic morning already for 琼斯 and the volunteers with her nonprofit organization, Michigan Cares for 旅游. While she gets a brief respite from the day’s logistics, volunteers are scattered around the park’s north side, collecting garbage. 

2012年，詹姆斯成立了密歇根关怀旅游组织， uniting hospitality and tourism professionals from around the state to contribute their time and work to help rejuvenate and clean parks 在密歇根. 

But, Belle Isle is a special place for 琼斯 and her 集团. Nearly 10 years ago to the day, 琼斯 and 450 volunteers met on Belle Isle to help the Michigan Department of Natural Resources 让公园为夏季娱乐季节做好准备. 这是其中之一 密歇根州关注旅游业最早的项目.

Ten years later, they are back at the Detroit landmark. 

“贝尔岛是该市的一个重要公园 不仅是底特律，还有整个州。. “DNR总是有一个 lot of work to do because they work on a skeleton crew, and with so 许多英里的可到达的土地，它必须准备好.”

This year’s visit on Belle Isle was a collective GVSU effort with the 特许学校 Office as a key partner for the day. 

A fleet of school buses pulled up to the shelter and more than 120 11th graders from University Prep Science & 数学 in Detroit, a GVSU-authorized charter school, have arrived for breakfast, ready to join the morning of restoration and cleanup projects, like landscaping, weeding, mulching, collecting trash, and 准备和绘画.

“We always want to find ways to connect the faculty, staff and 学生 at Grand Valley to our charter public schools, and vice versa, with really creative ways to further learning and community building,” said Michael Cousins, associate director of 与特许学校办公室进行社区外展.

志愿者推动项目

琼斯说 this year’s event has a 集团 of volunteers with a wide geographical and professional background. 她的几个 fellow faculty members in the hospitality and tourism management department and the 教育与社区创新学院 are 在现场帮忙. 还有120多名志愿者， including a 集团 from the Alpena Convention and 旅游 Office, a representative from the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel in Detroit, 13 亨利·福特博物馆的工作人员和其他人.

有些与旅游业没有任何关系. 琼斯 said one volunteer told her husband who works at General Motors 博天堂官方网页计划. 他在自己的办公室和办公室里传播了这个消息 他的同事中有一半同意参加这项事业.

丹Sippel是西密歇根大学的执行董事 Tourist Association, helped at the Belle Isle event 10 years ago and 为今年的努力回来了. 

“能够去这些标志性的目的地 other people don't even know exist in Michigan and be able to take care of them is great,” Sippel said, mentioning the island’s 历史意义.

French colonists in the 18th century referred to the island as Hog Island because they would let their livestock roam “给你，”西佩尔说. Johnny Weissmueller获得了1928年的参赛资格 Olympics in the Detroit Boat Club’s swimming pool; he taught 那里也有游泳课. 第二年，阿米莉亚·埃尔哈特成了 guest of the Women’s Aeronautical Association of Detroit for a 为女飞行员准备的午餐. 西佩尔指出，就在附近 Edmund Fitzgerald would dock on its voyages across the Great Lakes. 

“Not only are these parks cool places, but we’ll have about 225 volunteers for four hours here, we’ll get a lot of cool 事情完成了，”西佩尔说. 

Prior to the big day, 琼斯说 she assigns volunteers to teams, looking to mix professionals with diverse backgrounds to 建立和培养人际关系.  

“It's remembering there's a whole big state out there 在世界和不同的机会，”她说. 

And that belief is equally true for the charter school 学生. 琼斯说 she polled the 学生 beforehand to get an 志愿服务对他们来说意味着什么. 许多人回应说 没有参加过志愿者项目吗.

“今天是向他们介绍志愿服务和 introducing them to the tourism industry and other professionals,” 琼斯说. “Everybody is influenced by their circle of influence. I was lucky enough to go to college as a first-generation college 学生，世界变得如此之大.”