Spring Service Day

Time to give back!

Sunday April 18th, BSU joined the Walla Walla community in giving back for the Second Annual Spring Service Day. It was a bright, sunny morning and spring was in the air. After meeting on the steps of Reid with other Whitman volunteers and donned in our new BSU shirts, we hitched rides and enjoyed the cool drive on the way to Walla Walla University at College Place.

Our awesome new shirts designed by Bao-Tram and Olivia!

All three colleges of Walla Walla--Whitman, Walla Walla University, and Walla Walla Community College--participated in this event, and the day was sponsored by many local businesses. After checking in on campus, we were each given a Spring Service Day t shirt to commemorate the event. We had spent the morning ride contemplating what the shirts would look like, and we were presently surprised: they were amazing!

We are pumped for a full day of service!

Each group was assigned to a different organization to spend the day with, and our group was paired with the Blue Mountain Humane Society, a local animal shelter, strongly in need of more volunteers.

It was a comfortable and intimate setting. After seeing how much manual work needing to be done, and the little resources that were available, BSU was touched and even more eager to help out. We helped in a variety of duties: weeding the plants that irritated the dogs' skin and surpressing other weeds in a more gentle approach--in lieu of pesticides--to slow down their growing by laying concrete blocks on top.

With the harmful plants weeded, Robert, Laetitiah and I gathered them into the compost pile and helped clip them into making recycled soil. It was hard work!

Discussing the day's approach: all hands on deck!

Meanwhile, the rest of the crew worked on constructing a wall to surround the property. It was a great team effort!

Olivia, Nick, and Yonas talk through a plan

After a long morning, we enjoyed a short, animated break under the shade of a tree and a tour of the society. The dogs for soo cute!

Nick keeps hydrated

Tumi and I pose for a picture

Then it was back to work!

How's the wall coming guys?

Sarah works her legs, digging

All too soon, though, it was time for us to leave. After saying goodbye to our new furry friends, we grouped up in Sarah's truck, thumped some music, and cruised to the taco truck for some delicious Mexican food. We drove back to the Whitman campus and enjoyed the food and each other's company--what a great way to spend the day!

We'll definitely be looking forward to this next year!