Austin Peay State University students and staff come together for “Peayple in the Community” volunteering event

Austin Peay State University’s inaugural “Peayple in the Community” was a resounding success, thanks to the school’s spirit of giving. The school hopes to make this an annual event so that the Austin Peay community can continue making a difference in the larger Clarksville community.

According to an article on Austin Peay State Community College’s website, Dannelle Whiteside, who serves as the university’s vice president of Legal Affairs and Organizational Strategy, said, “Austin Peay’s mission says that we are a community-minded institution, and we believe in living that out. We thought this would be a meaningful way to demonstrate how we believe in putting our hands toward the betterment of the Clarksville community.”

More than 600 students, faculty, and staff came out to show off their commitment to that mission. The event’s purpose was to give students the opportunity to give back to the Clarksville community and foster engagement through acts of service. The volunteers were coordinated between different volunteer sites by Alexandra Wills, who is the university’s director for Community Engagement & Sustainability, to ensure that every organization in need of volunteers had plenty of help.

Among the projects and organizations that the volunteers were helping out with were Manna Café Ministries, Habitat for Humanity ReStore, and American Red Cross’s Tennessee River Chapter.

Head Softball Coach Kassie Stanfill and her team have volunteered for the American Red Cross previously, and were all excited by the opportunity to do so again. The softball team cleaned and detailed the chapter’s van, as well as took inventory of the disaster trailer to help the chapter keep tally of its disaster supplies.

Timothy Johnson is the vice chair of the board of the American Red Cross’s Tennessee River Chapter expressed his gratitude to the team, saying, “The Red Cross is all about being embedded within the community and knowing what we can bring to the table, and volunteering is one of the big things that we need. The fact that somebody is coming here to volunteer for us and with us like this is incredibly important.”

The radiography technology students and their professor Dr. Jennifer Thompson helped out Manna Cafe Ministries, a soup kitchen and food pantry, by packing to-go bags. Dr. Thompson discussed why it was important that her health profession students had the opportunity to help out in the community they will be serving, saying, “Being in the health professions, we’re all about serving our community – and what better way to do that than to volunteer with all of our people. All of our rad tech students are together [here], and we’re building that family that we’ve already established in the classroom by working in the community.”

Student Sarah Hefty, who is studying psychology, helped organize and unbox Christmas trees at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. She was required to help out for a class, but she says she is glad she took part. “I like learning about what they do here and how they help the community … seeing that makes me want to volunteer here more often and shop [at the ReStore] so that money goes back to them,” she said.

Asante Zepeda, who is the volunteer coordinator Habitat for Humanity of Montgomery County, said it was a great benefit to have the Austin Peay community there to help out. “It means everything to have them with us today. It’s people like them that we’re able to have the ReStore. There’s no way we’d be able to put out all the donations we get every day by ourselves, so volunteers really help and impact the store that we have,” she said.

Overall, the event was a great success, and the school will be looking to make it an annual occurrence. Whiteside said, “We’re happy to serve the community, and we thank our community partners for opening their doors and allowing us to give back.”

For more information about Austin Peay State University, visit the school’s website.