Programs 
VAC Awardees
February Winners
Cody Bartow
Cody Bartow, from Midland, Michigan, has been involved with numerous different community service projects since the start of his freshman year. Cody was inspired to become involved after a community service presentation by Trout Residence Hall Director, Jana Tramper. After the presentation, joined the Trout Hall Community Service team and has since participated in numerous volunteer opportunities. Cody currently volunteers with the After School Program at the West Midland Family Center and helps elementary students their homework and plays various games with them. Cody also volunteers with the middle and high school students and helps them with their homework or participates in the activity that the staff at the center organizes for the day. Cody is also involved community service projects such as Relay for Life, Christmas Outreach, and Rock the Mall.
Cody believes that it is important to give back to the community by volunteering. He has found the experience to be very rewarding and strongly encourages anyone who has never volunteered before to try it.
Freshman Honors Group
The freshman Honors class at Central Michigan University, comprised of approximately 260 Honors students, spent the fall 2008 semester raising money for the American Red Cross Mobile Food Pantry in Isabella County. The food pantry is organized locally by the Community Compassion Network. Each year the Honors Program Freshman Class, through their HON 100 introductory course, selects a philanthropy to support. According to Judy Idema, Honors Program Associate Director and HON 100 instructor, "We had Sue Wroblewski, the coordinator of Community Compassion Network, come in at the beginning of the semester to talk with our students about the poverty level in Isabella County and about the local need for food." Idema went on to say that, "the students were very moved by stories Sue shared about some children only having one meal a day to sustain them and then going hungry the rest of the time." According to Wroblewski, Isabella County has approximately 15% of its residents living at or below the poverty level. Wroblewski said, "many of these families struggle to provide, food clothing and shelter for their families." Inspired to make a difference, "the freshman Honors students set an initial goal to raise $5,000 or enough to buy approximately 5 fresh food trucks," Idema recalls. "They were so successful, however, by semester's end they had doubled their goal and raised over $10,000!" (The total donation was $10,133.99)
Sue came on the last day of each class and group by group the students revealed in PowerPoint presentations how much they had raised. "When we surpassed our initial goal the students were excited," Idema said, "but when the last group had gone and we realized we had earned over $10,000 and what that would mean to families in Isabella County this winter, I saw several students wipe back tears. I am really proud of their efforts and accomplishments." According to Wroblewski, "this gift is far more than we expected to receive and it is the single largest donation our organization has ever received." She went on to say that "this donation exceeded our wildest dreams. We will be able to provide two mobile food pantries per month for three months with this wonderful donation." Each food pantry feeds approximately 350 local families. To make this happen, Honors students were divided up into approximately 35 small groups at the beginning of their HON 100 course. Each group was then asked to come up with a fundraiser and then they were given 8 weeks to complete it. Fundraisers ranged from collecting pop cans to making a wishing well, from selling candy bars to organizing a bake sale. Groups also took out "Trash for Cash" in the residence halls and made awareness ribbons to sell for donations. Some more creative ideas included a rock-a-thon in which students received advance pledges and rocked in rocking chairs for 6 hours in Park Library. There was also a bingo night, euchre tournament, game night, and a "Top-Dater" dating event. Instructors for this course were Judy Idema and Luanne Goffnett.
The Centralis Scholarship freshmen, also Honors students, organized a large-scale Silent Auction in October raising over $2700 of the $10,000. The instructor for that class was Dr. James P. Hill, Honors Director. "I was very pleased that the Honors Program could partner with CCN this year. Our students not only learned about poverty facts in Isabella County but they were able to address the situation hands-on and successfully make the largest donation to date to CCN. I know many students plan to remain involved with the food truck program during their time at Central."