Active Committee Members: Tracy Wetherby-Williams, Arlene Medder, Cheyanne Ritz, Rich Brandenburg, Myka Elliott, Jen DeNeal, Amber Mead, Tarah Burnett, Dori Brady, Mary King, Alicia Brandt, Katie Musgrove, Jacob Womack (Chair)
This year the primary focus has been on drives, due mostly to the ongoing pandemic, which severely limited in person volunteer opportunities. We did continue supporting the EF’s Carolina Blood Drive (sub-committee chaired by Jen DeNeal) and the Carolina Community Garden ( Arlene Medder, Liaison), both of which faced many new challenges due to the ongoing pandemic.
• The UNC Children’s Hospital Toy Drive
A successful drive this year despite so few people being on campus at the time. We managed to donate several hundred toys from units across campus. We also shared the Amazon wish list that the hospital had created. Some photos of our collection went out with the Forum’s social media. Rich Brandenburg and Myke Elliott were tasked with spearheading this effort and did an amazing job of it, despite many complications. After the drive we agreed as a committee that we need to prepare for this drive and get the literature out sooner, especially since there are so many other charitable opportunities during that time of year.
• Ronald McDonald House of Chapel Hill
This March we created a March Kindness Drive benefiting the Chapel Hill branch of the Ronald McDonald House. Throughout the month we raised $1500 worth of donations from a hand picked list of in demand items selected by the charity. Dori Brady was instrumental in preparing our literature and we enjoyed the benefit of having materials that could be included in many of the digital messaging systems around campus. In feedback regarding the drive, we learned that many people only saw the signage, as many campus wide emails did not get significant interest.