Mt. Union Cares!

Written by: Heidi Bartholomew, Mt. Union Alum, loyal EECM friend, and member of the EECM Young Professionals

Mount Union College National Day of Service -- April 25, 2009

As a graduate of Mount Union College and a member of its Alumni Council, I was thrilled to coordinate the Mount Union College National Day of Service for Mount Union alumni living in the Pittsburgh area. My husband, Tim Brown, has been an active volunteer for East End Cooperative Ministry over the last two years and I hoped to leverage the energy and talent of our local Mount Union alumni for the benefit of EECM.

Our service project was a top-to-bottom cleaning of the EECM soup kitchen and dining area. We assembled a group of 12 dedicated Mount Union alumni who arrived at the soup kitchen bright and early on Saturday morning to begin the deep cleaning. I passed out the official "MUC - Mount Union Cares" t-shirts and we split up the job duties.

The volunteer project included a thorough cleaning of the commercial refrigerators, cooking area, food serving area and dining area. The group used an impressive amount of Mr. Clean, buckets, rags and brillo pads and when the project was finished, the soup kitchen was sparkling clean!

Tim gave an eye-opening overview of the important hunger services delivered by EECM from the kitchen in the basement of East Liberty Presbyterian. Behind the scenes work, like cleaning the soup kitchen and dining area, supports EECM's mission to deliver the highest quality service to the needy in the East End. Volunteering as a group was a great way to connect alumni and we enjoyed discussing ideas for next year's service project. I will be sure to talk to Tracy Hudson, EECM Volunteer Coordinator, about service projects for the 2010 Mount Union College National Day of Service!