More than 250 Tennessee Wesleyan College faculty, staff and students, including student Mike Stick of Salem, performed an overall 1,315 hours of service participating in the college’s annual “Day of Service” on Tuesday. Volunteering at 20 different projects throughout the local community, TWC students participating in this year’s “Day of Service” painted, cleaned, planted and organized at community sites from Athens to Etowah.

“These students can make tangible impacts in the communities where they live,” said Mandie Thacker Beeler, TWC director of the center for servant leadership. “For TWC, the annual ‘Day of Service’ is all about making a big difference in our small town.

“This event is a wonderful opportunity for the TWC community to serve the greater Athens and McMinn community. Students really make a huge difference on this day, providing the resources needed to get necessary projects completed that might not otherwise be possible.”

The Center for National and Community Service calculates the national estimate of the dollar value of one volunteer hour to be $21.67. Based on this calculation, TWC made an estimated $28,496.05 economic impact in one day volunteering in the community. Up approximately 100 faculty, staff and students, 6 projects and 560 hours from last year’s inaugural “Day of Service,” this year’s event showed TWC freshmen what the college’s “Learn, Serve, Lead … and Believe” motto truly means.

“It means a lot to me to know that Tennessee Wesleyan, as a leader in the community, makes volunteer work a priority for the college and its students,” said Fallon Stephens, a TWC sophomore majoring in nursing. “There’s no greater feeling than giving back to a community that has given so much to me.”

From painting community buildings to planting trees and doing clean-up duties at Athens Regional Park, the volunteer work performed during this year’s “Day of Service” benefited community members, local ecosystems and even animals placed for adoption at the McMinn Regional Humane Society.

– Submitted by Tennessee Wesleyan College