Oscar Bautista
Contributing Writer
Last week, the Stanleys’ Cup was awarded to The College of Wooster by the United Way of Wayne and Holmes County due to the College’s year-round contributions to the community. The award is named in honor of two local business and philanthropic leaders, Stanley Gault, former CEO of Rubbermaid, and the late Stanley Welty, Jr., CEO of Wooster Brush. Carolyn Buxton, interim dean of students and member of United Way’s Board of Trustees, accepted the award on behalf of the College. “I’ve been affiliated with The United Way since 2001 as a community member working on various committees like Allocations,” said Buxton. “As a board member, I serve as the College’s representative, and the board is responsible for the oversight of the local Wayne and Holmes counties’ agencies.” The College was chosen from various local organizations using strict award criteria of operating predominantly in either Wayne or Holmes County, having active promotion of community volunteerism, demonstrating leadership that is invested in the community, and having a shared internal expertise within the community. Previous winners of the award include PNC Bank, Buehler’s Fresh Foods and Cleveland Clinic-Wooster Family Health Center. “This year in particular, one of the projects that was highlighted was the MLK day of service, and on that day of service students worked with local non profit agencies,” said Buxton. “The students used their flex swipes at the end of the semester to purchase all of this food that was given to People to People Ministries and toiletry kits that were given to hospitals. The MLK day of service was the icing on the cake; it was the thing that pushed our organization over the top and gained attention,” she added. Four hundred fifty students participated in the MLK day of service with agencies including People to People, the Red Cross, Friendtique and Liberty Center Connections. In addition, the Wooster Volunteer Network (WVN) has been actively making a difference, first by starting the Community Connections Program, a program through which three First Year Seminar professors are working with WVN to introduce volunteerism to incoming first years. “Our goal with this program is to start fostering a culture of service on campus, hence why we decided to work with the [first years],” said Gillian Spangler ’16, president of WVN. “This next fall we have six confirmed FYS professors that we will be working with again, which is really exciting! We’re really seeing this program take off and have an impact on students and professors.” Along with these student efforts, the Social Entrepreneurship program has also played a role in community volunteerism. Students from the program worked with stakeholders and professors to help further research for multi-dimensional measures of poverty. Their business plan was completed along with risk assessments and presented to The United Way Board Trustees and Staff. “I think the community through The United Way is saying thank you to the College for a job well done,” said Buxton. “The challenge to the College would be can we top this and is there any way to better ourselves because I don’t see that any of the previous winners of the award have won it more than once.”