Tigers together: Trulaske student organizations prioritize volunteering

April is National Volunteer Month — an excellent opportunity to recognize those who give back to our community and encourage others to do the same. At the Trulaske College of Business, we prepare students for success as global citizens, business leaders, scholars, innovators and entrepreneurs, and also encourage them to be active community members, supporting and enhancing the world around them.

Here are some of the Trulaske student organizations that support our Columbia and Mizzou communities through a variety of volunteer efforts. 

 

Association of Trulaske Businesswomen

This semester, the Association of Trulaske Businesswomen is hosting a personal hygiene drive, with the donated goods going to Love Columbia, a local organization that  serves those struggling to provide for their basic needs. In 2022, Love Columbia supported 2,744 adults and 2,118 children through service programs such as Clearinghouse, Information Library, Path Forward, Side by Side and Extra Mile. The Association of Trulaske Business will also participate in Cleanup Columbia — an annual city-wide volunteer litter pick-up event held this spring.

Beta Alpha Psi

One of the requirements for initiation into Beta Alpha Psi is completing service events throughout the year. This semester, Beta Alpha Psi volunteered with the Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri, which provides food to 100,000 people a month across 32 counties in Missouri. Beta Alpha Psi also volunteered with Adopt-A-Highway in March and plans to do so again in mid-April. Missouri's Adopt-A-Highway volunteers work together to clean up litter alongside Missouri roadways. Beta Alpha Psi also hopes to have an event with MU's Tiger Pantry, which addresses food insecurity in the university community, during which they will donate cans and money along with volunteer time. 

“As Beta Alpha Psi members, we believe in volunteering to benefit our Mizzou and Columbia communities, so we can leave our communities better than we found them,” Beta Alpha Psi officers Jake Mouser and Ella Rounkles said.

Black Business Students Association

The Black Business Students Association volunteered with Small Ballers Tyke Basketball during February and March. Small Ballers Tyke Basketball, a youth skills development program, helps children in Columbia learn the basic fundamental skills of the game while interacting and having fun with others in the community. The Black Business Students Association also plans to volunteer at the 31st Annual Columbia Wing Ding, organized by United Cerebral Palsy Heartland. Known as the “biggest and best charity happy hour in town,” Wing Ding raises awareness and money to provide and expand employment opportunities for adults with disabilities.

Business Week

Business Week offers a variety of engaging opportunities that enable students to interact closely with alumni, employers and industry leaders. Throughout the week, B-Week directors also facilitate two service events directly supporting our communities — a Tiger Pantry food drive and a Truman’s Closet  clothing drive. Tiger Pantry assists anyone affiliated with the university, including students, faculty and staff, who faces food insecurity, providing not only food, but also working to educate the campus on issues of food insecurity and the intersectionality of hunger. Truman’s Closet offers Mizzou and MU Health Care students, staff and faculty a way to borrow professional and business attire appropriate for career fairs, interviews and the workplace.

Cornell Leadership Program

The Cornell Leadership Program allows students to further develop their leadership skills and business acumen during their time at Mizzou. The program also provides students with the opportunity to give back. During their January trip to Panama, CLP students completed a service project that included composting, which was used for trees in the Gamboa Rainforest Reserve. Students also cleaned up litter and debris in the Chagres River, which feeds into the Panama Canal. In April, CLP students will go to the Special Olympics Missouri Training for Life campus to learn about the business side of nonprofits and hopefully to complete another service project while there.

Delta Sigma Pi

Delta Sigma Pi has already held three service events this semester, with plans to complete three more before the end of the semester. Members first volunteered with Assistance League Mid-Missouri through their Cookie Connections program. Assistance League of Mid-Missouri is an all-volunteer, nonprofit philanthropic organization that operates multiple programs to help children and adults in need in Columbia.

Delta Sigma Pi also volunteered with the City of Columbia Volunteer Program, organizing a litter cleanup event for the main East Campus neighborhood. The City of Columbia Volunteer Program is hosting an Earth Day Celebration in April, and Delta Sigma Pi members plan to donate their time to help facilitate activities for children.

The Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri is another place Delta Sigma Pi has volunteered, helping with tasks such as setting up meals for people in need and separating edible food from expired food. Every semester, Delta Sigma Pi also donates tabs and food cans to Ronald McDonald House Charities.

Diverse Student Association

The Diverse Student Association places an emphasis on education, accountability and acceptance. In place of one of their regularly scheduled meetings this spring, DSA members volunteered with the Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri. Members rallied together to pack and label bags of cereal. Throughout the course of the evening shift, DSA packaged more than three large bins of cereal, which is distributed directly to those in need within the community. 

Heartland Scholars Academy

The Heartland Scholars Academy equips first-generation, rural students with the tools, skills and opportunities needed to achieve academic success at Mizzou. Students in the Heartland Scholars Academy traveled to Argentina over spring break. Part of their trip included working with the Plantarse organization to clean up and recycle trash along the De la Plata River shoreline. 

Mizzou Marketing Club

In partnership with Columbia's Metro Rotary Club, the Mizzou Marketing Club is working with Assistant Teaching Professor Katie Essing to create a marketing strategy to benefit Afghan refugee women in Columbia. Because the women have sewing, cooking, baking and gardening skills but limited business knowledge, the Mizzou Marketing Club is donating time to create plans for their small businesses. So far, students have created logos and color palettes, a SWOT analysis for the businesses and potential content for websites and social media. In addition, they have developed business plans and marketing strategies for three potential sewing, baking and gardening businesses. Their efforts are helping these women share their Afghan culture with members of the Columbia community.

“This has been a rewarding project for our club, to give back both to our city and the Columbia community, as well as Afghan refugees,” Mizzou Marketing Club officer Sierra Murray said.

Pi Sigma Epsilon

Pi Sigma Epsilon will donate their time and volunteer at the Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri, packaging goods for families within the Columbia community that are in need of extra support. Pi Sigma Epsilon will also volunteer at the food bank's Float Your Boat fundraiser later this month. Held every spring, Float Your Boat is mid-Missouri’s original cardboard boat regatta. Teams race one-of-a-kind cardboard boats across the lake at Bass Pro Shops in Columbia while hundreds of attendees cheer them on as they sail or sink. Pi Sigma Epsilon members will help with registration support, t-shirt sales and paddle running, as well as whatever else is needed that day..

Trulaske Student Council

Student Council will volunteer for Habitat for Humanity later this month. Habitat for Humanity partners with people in the community and around the world to help them build or improve a place they can call home. Habitat homeowners help build their own homes alongside volunteers and pay an interest-free mortgage. 

“Our council is dedicated to helping our Trulaske and Columbia communities," Trulaske Student Council officer Sarah Tate said. "We think devoting our time to volunteer is important so we can connect with greater Columbia and beyond while building better connections with each other.”