Wabash Day (Wabash Alumni Benefiting And Serving Humanity) is the National Association of Wabash Men's annual, national day/weekend of community service. This year’s event was held on the weekend of October 1-2.
Wabash alumni all over the United States joined together to perform service projects in their local communities. Choosing a weekend gives the local groups the option to pick the day, which works best for the group.
Here are the projects across the country for this year’s Wabash Day.
INDIANA
Indianapolis
Volunteers gathered in the Mapleton–Fall Creek neighborhood in Indianapolis to work on a project for the Mapleton-Fall Creek Development Corporation. Mapleton–Fall Creek Development Corporation is a nonprofit that helps preserve Mapleton–Fall Creek’s old homes and ensure affordable housing in the area. This is the ninth WABASH Day that has helped improve the mid-north, urban neighborhood. The volunteers helped in a new Garden Park located at 3151 Park Avenue. The area was transformed from a dilapidated building to a community green space that includes a walking path, benches, and a small stage. The land had been overrun with weeds. The Wabash volunteers helped prepare the land for community gardening, by clearing the area and spreading wood chips to lay the first layer of what will become a lasagna garden.
Volunteers included: Keenan Blanchford ’98, Jayden Davis (Keenan’s Little Brother), Rick Cavanaugh ’76, Chuck Niblick ’12, Josh Tatum ’03, Candice Tatum, Amy Tatum, Lydia Tatum, Phoebe Tatum, Noah Tatum, Britanie Redd (Mapleton-Fall Creek contact), Charlie Millard (Mapleton-Fall Creek volunteer).
Wabash men and women worked together to spread over (21) tons of wooden mulch chips and improve the playground area at The Villages in Indianapolis. The Villages provides services such as, foster care, adoption, quality child care and early childhood development services at this Indianapolis location. This is the twelfth year in a row that the group has completed various projects at The Villages including painting interior walls, spreading mulch throughout the playground area, and painting and staining the playground equipment. Denise Ferrell, onsite director at The Villages stated that their work over the last 12 years has saved The Villages well over $20,000 and that these savings will help those that are less fortunate to continue to utilize the child care services that The Villages are able to offer.
Volunteers included:
Grant Benefiel ’16, Kevin Benefiel ’81, Ty Benefiel ’08, Leticia Benefiel, Brock Benefiel, Cody Benefiel, Sean Cavanaugh ’16, Jordan Culp ’16, Brent Kent ’09, Greg McGowan ’81, Bev McGowan, Jacob Pactor ’04, Jon Pactor ’71, Joe Pfennig ’82, Jackson Schroeder ’15, Donovan Whitney ’16
A small group of Wabash men braved the elements and environment in order to remove trash and debris from Pleasant Run near the intersection of Shelby Street and Pleasant Run Pkwy in Fountain Square, Indianapolis. They filled several large garbage bags with trash found along the roads, creek, and underneath of the I-65 overpasses. The men even found abandoned shopping carts which – before becoming trash themselves – greatly helped them haul the trash to a nearby dumpster.
Volunteers included:
Kevin Bennett '14, Joel Bustamante '11, Sky King '15, Peter Nicksic '14
Wabash alumni, family, and friends helped clean areas in and around Broad Ripple. Volunteers assisted in a landscaping project to help spruce up the Village for fall, as well as prepare the side of a building for a new mural.
Fort Wayne
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Wabash alumni and volunteers came together on an overcast Saturday morning in downtown Fort Wayne to volunteer for their annual Wabash Day. The group worked at Matthew 25, which provides free medical, vision, and dental services to the uninsured, working poor, and homeless of Northeast Indiana and Northwest Ohio. They consult with over 115 patients each day, relying on over 400 healthcare and lay volunteers. In Allen County alone, between 25% and 30% of residents are uninsured. As you can imagine their medication dispensary is a very busy place and their request was to have the entire room repainted. The group spent a little under three hours prepping and painting the medication dispensary. After that was completed, they headed outdoors to remove weeds and trim up bushes that surround their parking lot.
Volunteers included:
Jeff Copp ’70, Bruce Guebard ’73, Drew Hoffman ’10, Byron Lamm ’79, Merritt Lamm, Tavis Rieger ’03, Eric Rowan ’03, John Shank ’89, David Sorg ’78, Marcus Spillson ’03, Pete Wilson ’84.
Franklin
Wabash Day volunteers enjoyed a morning in Franklin landscaping/mulching around the town’s welcome signs in time for the town’s annual Fall Festival.
Volunteers included: Brandon Clifton ’05, Nick George ’05, Jake German ’11, Zach Mulholland ’06.
Noblesville
The Noblesville volunteers work was at the Diabetes Youth Foundation Camp. The YDF camp hosts diabetic children in a rural environment, offering overnight stays, activities, and camaraderie that builds confidence as they face the challenges of living with diabetes. The volunteers constructed a new enclosure to contain the camp’s refuse dumpster, improving its appearance, function, and protection from wildlife. It is also now screened from view by campers and guests, enhancing enjoyment of the area.
Volunteers included:
JB Bachmann ’60, Lee Clark ’73, Greg Estell ’85, Jason Hand ’94, Kyle McLaughlin ’13, Spencer Sheridan ’12, Joel Tragesser ’94.
St. Joseph Valley Association
The St. Joseph Valley Association of Wabash Men worked at the Families First Center. The group engaged in general maintenance and upkeep around the facility, which included cleaning storm windows, replacing air filters, changing light bulbs, repairing bathroom plumbing, and painting.
Volunteers included:
Matt Bottoms, '96, Peter Horvath, '92, John Mynsberge, '72, David Smail, '93, Paul Tipps, '74.
Zionsville
It was a beautiful morning at the stables of Morning Dove Therapeutic Riding where Wabash alumni and their family members joined together for Wabash Day 2016. This is the ninth consecutive year Zionsville-area Wabash alumni have assisted Morning Dove. Morning Dove seeks to improve the lives of individuals with physical, cognitive and/or behavioral challenges in the greater Indianapolis community through equine-assisted therapies and activities. They handled a myriad of maintenance chores at Morning Dove over the years, and this year their plate was full with maintenance tasks around the horse barn including rehabbing horse stalls and constructing shelving inside the barn.
Volunteers included:
Steven Badger '87, Kari Badger, Scott Benedict '98, Dustin DeNeal '02, Bill Havlin '84, Caroline Elizabeth Scherb, Jacob Scherb '14, Scott Quick '88, Sophie Quick, Teddy Quick, Debi Quick, Asher Weaver '09.
COLORADO
Longmont
Colorado alumni served their community with twelve alumni and friends of the college volunteering their morning serving the Life Choices organization in Longmont.The group trimmed trees and disposed of dead branches, cleaned gutters and flower beds, cleaned the inside and outside of the mobile medical vehicle and did a thorough fall cleaning of the inside of the facility. Life Choices is a non-profit organization with a primary mission to help educate and provide crisis services for women’s health issues. They have been serving Northern Colorado for over 25 years and now have five locations plus a mobile unit that extends services to further locales.They provide free services which include pregnancy testing, STI testing, Ultrasounds and counseling as well as providing emergency clothing and diapers for infants.
Volunteers included:
John Panozzo ‘89, Kai Chin ‘71, Charlotte Chin, Justin Chin, ‘11, Steve Wildman, ‘71, Susan Wildman, Blaine Cooper-Surma, ‘09, Alison Cooper-Surma, Jon Conkright, ‘01, Heather Conkright, Aurelian Bukatko, ‘73, Linda Bukatko.
ILLINOIS
Chicago
The Wabash Club of Chicago volunteered at the Greater Chicago Food Depository toward the southwest side of "Chicago proper.” The group was assigned to the breaking-down, sorting, and repackaging of onions for meal preparations. A representative from GCFD informed the group that they completed four industrial sized pallets with each weighing roughly 2,250 lbs., which equates to a contribution to some 14,800 meals. These meals will be distributed throughout a network of 600 food pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters in the greater Chicago community.
Volunteers included:
Rudy Altergott ’13, Thomas Ball ’12, John Flanagan ’66, Luke Holm ’14, Sean McGrath ’16, George Vinihakis ’15.
MISSOURI
Kansas City
The Wabash Day in Kansas City was honored by volunteering at Harvesters Community Food Network warehouse to sort frozen food items distributed to the area needy. Harvesters was founded in 1979 as Kansas City’s “response to hunger,” providing emergency food assistance to 26 counties in northwestern Missouri and northeastern Kansas. Harvesters serves as many as 66,000 people each week (43% children, 8% senior citizens), and distributes food and household products to emergency food pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, children's homes, homes for the mentally disabled and shelters for battered persons. They also offer education programs to increase community awareness of hunger and teach about good nutrition. Harvesters’ mission is to feed hungry people today and work to end hunger tomorrow.
Volunteers included:
Michael Cummings ’86, Conley Stamper, Cyril Welter ’72.
St. Louis
The St. Louis Association of Wabash Men renewed their relationship with Gateway Greening by volunteering at the Lexington Elementary Youth Garden. In addition to helping prepare the garden for winter, the group trimmed many of the bushes at the entrance to the school, which helped improved what was already a warm and inviting entrance for the children. Our project leader, Ms. Harris, and the staff at Lexington Elementary were very gracious with their time, providing us the tools and direction necessary for our group to make a meaningful impact to the school.
Volunteers included:
Kenneth Farris '12, Justin Michaels '10, Jim Pace '78.
TENNESSEE
Nashville
The volunteers helped at the Bell Garden in Nashville. The group helped with a variety of tasks including, harvested vegetables from the garden; removing blackberry plants from one area of the garden and replanted in another area; and pulled weeds and cleaned up overgrowth in the garden.
Volunteers included:
Nate Bell '05, Frank Fish '79, Dave Mann '09, Mark McGrady '81.
TEXAS
Austin
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The Austin group worked as part of a larger group of volunteers at the Central Texas Food Bank, which provides food to organizations that feed persons in need of assistance, including the poor and the elderly. During the three hour work period the group inspected, sorted, and boxed for shipment approximately 12,000 pounds of food items which will provide thousands of meals for those in need of assistance.
Volunteers included:
Jim Braddock ’73, Ron Brown ‘67, Theodore Johnson ’98
Dallas
For the second year, Dallas alumni visited the inner-city ministry Reach4Hope Homework Center. R4H provides structure and guidance for scores of at-risk kids from the poorest neighborhoods, and their building is situated in one of them. The Wabash crew helped beautify the facility by building a new planter, doing landscape work on the grounds, and staining picnic tables the students use under the arbor Wabash men rebuilt last year.
Volunteers included:
Jim McDaniel ’74, John Kegerreis ’65, Jim Kipp ’81, Devin Moss ’09, Terry Schuck ’70, Dan Susie ’68, Jim Thomas ’73.