USUSA View: Needed service most important part of Business Week
Rather than walk through a full list of the activities, I want to talk to you about one part of Business Week 2014 that I think is especially important this year: the service project.
Two weeks ago, the business council and I visited the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City. At the beginning of our visit, a guide gave us a tour of the donation center. We saw knit hats, magazines, blankets, toys, socks, bags and dozens of other items. I was impressed by the graciousness of the groups who spent hours collecting, knitting, gluing, cutting and performing many other forms of crafting all in an effort to help cancer patients.
“Well, that’s real nice,” I thought to myself. We had already made a plan to donate six months worth of fleece blankets, decoupage notebooks and letters of encouragement. I knew we were doing a good thing, but the real worth of the project hadn’t sunk in yet.
As we spent more time in the donation center, however, I began to realize how important the donations were to the patients and to the HCI. I guess I had just assumed that there was a never-ending line of Eagle Scouts, sweet old ladies and Key Club members always on the ready to keep a steady supply of donations pouring into institutions like the HCI. I figured that the institutions probably allowed the donations because they helped their patients a bit here and there, and plus, it was good to let donors feel like they were making a difference.
What I didn’t realize was that there is not a steady supply of donations and that both the patients and the institutions are deeply grateful for any contribution they receive. I was surprised by our guide who, when talking about the donations, kept using phrases like, “we need these,” “we are low on those,” “we nearly ran out of this,” and “I wish we could get just some more of those.” I learned that patients will keep the blankets we donate for the rest of their lives as a symbol of their fight with cancer. I learned that the notebooks we decorate will be special because patients will record the emotional and difficult stories of their fights with cancer. And I learned that the form letters we will write will give people hope in some of their darkest times. After learning these things, it was finally starting to click.
I don’t know why it took so long to get through my thick skull, but the visit helped me to realize these service projects truly do make a difference. I invite all of you to come and participate in the service project next week. I promise you that this project will make a difference in someone’s life and that you will feel good knowing you helped someone in need. We will have areas set up in the business building lobby, the TSC West Entrance (across from the computer lab) and the LDS Institute Tuesday through Friday next week from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. I hope to see you there.
— Scott Laneri is the business senator. He can be reached through email at scott.laneri@aggiemail.usu.edu or during his office hours in TSC 327.