Wabash alumni celebrated the second annual Wabash Alumni Benefiting And Serving Humanity (WABASH) October 14 and 15 by promoting Wabash values.
Jon Pactor '71, National Association of Wabash Men (NAWM) board member and chair of its WABASH Day Committee, said, "Alumni plan community service events, along with family, friends, and students and carry them out in accordance with the mandate of the Gentleman's Rule to be responsible citizens and with the college's mission statement for us to think critically, act responsibility, lead effectively, so that all can live more humanely."
Alumni celebrated the occasion in Crawfordsville and in cities as far as Bloomington, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Evansville, Grand Rapids, Houston, Indianapolis, Knoxville, Lafayette, Minneapolis, Muncie, San Francisco, St. Louis, Seattle, South Bend, and Washington, D.C.
According to Pactor the NAWM is trying to tabulate all of the volunteers. So far, more than 200 volunteers are known to have participated, including two current students, Gabe Smith ’07 and Bart Bridge ‘08.
In Crawfordsville the Sugar Creek Association of Wabash Men joined Hose Elementary School Principal John Tidd to help with Hose’s Parent Teacher Organization finish a trail.
In Indianapolis a group of alumni tackled chores at The Villages Sunday.
John Panozzo ’89 from Denver said, “Denver saw 19 alums, friends and family participate at the Karlis Family Center. The Karlis Center's mission is to ‘help people overcome child abuse, domestic violence, and homelessness to become safe, strong and self-reliant.’”
In D.C., Jefferson Crew '05 worked with a group of about 20 members of the National Capital Association of Wabash Men, family, and friends, to mount a cleanup and restoration effort at Friendship House, Washington, D.C.'s oldest social-services agency.
The alumni in Grand Rapids, Mich. faced challenging weather to serve their community. The project was to assist Camp Blodgett (a camp along Lake Michigan just outside Grand Rapids that provides camping and enrichment experiences for urban youth) to build and repair facilities.
The tradition of celebrating WABASH Day started last year with the purpose, as the name suggests, of serving communities.