Through a partnership with the United Way of North Central Ohio, students in Senior Lecturer, Amy Tibbals's English 2367.01S service-learning course awarded $4,000 dollars in grants to three Marion area non-profit organizations, Thursday, April 27th, in Maynard Hall's Guthery Community Room.

The class chose to award $1700 to the Heart of Ohio Homeless Shelter, $1150 to Marion Mentors, and $1150 to Buckeye Food Alliance.

After the awards ceremony, Tibbals shared that this unique course has been awarding funds to area non-profits for 13 years now in conjunction with the United Way of North Central Ohio and anticipates the partnership continuing for the foreseeable future.  "They have been our partner through the entire 13 years and we’re still going forward," Tibbals said.

Beyond the concept of doing good in the community, Tibbals believed her students learned an invaluable lesson about empathy and how individuals can make a difference.

"I think they learn how to have empathy for others as far as people in the local community," she said. "Understanding people have struggles, but then also seeing the great organizations that are here to help and to just let everybody understand that you can play a role in supporting and advocating for others." 

Executive Director, Devin Durain with Heart of Ohio Homeless Shelter, expressed sincere gratitude to the group of students that he had the opportunity to work with and for the donation.

"It means a lot," said Durain. "Last year we serviced 282 residents throughout six counties, so every little bit helps to be able to keep our doors open full-time and make sure that these people have a place to lay their head at night and opportunities to regain their self-sufficiency."

He also agreed with Tibbals's assessment that the students take away something more than just the satisfaction of awarding funds to those in need.

"I think it just brings a total awareness of what’s going on in the community, as well as gets them to dive a little deeper into who they’re representing, what that organization means, and how they can learn those crucial skills to debate or openly discuss why they believe in a system and why they should look to them for future funding," said Durain.

Freshman Alejandro Parades, who worked with the Heart of Ohio Homeless Shelter and spoke on behalf of his group, was surprised how little it takes to help others.   

"We talked about how you don’t really need billions and billions of dollars to help in your community or help out in the world," said Parades. "You just need motivation, and you need to feel like you’re doing something."  

"I feel like it changed my perspective of how I think about helping others and about how much of an impact I make in other people’s lives" he added.

 
Leslie Beary, an Ohio State Marion mental health counselor and staff advisor for the Buckeye Food Alliance, a nonprofit, student-run organization at Ohio State that aims to alleviate hunger on campus, appreciated the donation and knows it is going to a good cause.

Receiving the check from United Way Pay It Forward is a great gift to the Buckeye Food Alliance and essentially a great gift to all the students on the Marion campus. It will continue to allow our students to access healthy, free food, both nonperishable and perishable," she said. "Consequently, good nutrition helps keep our students in the classroom to thrive through their academic journey," Beary shared.

Sophomore spokesperson for the Buckeye Food Alliance group, Emily Tibbals had firsthand knowledge of the impact the group's donation will make on campus.

"I actually use the program," she said. "Having Celiac Disease means that I cannot eat a lot of the traditional college student staples like mac-n-cheese or ramen. I signed up for the pantry a couple weeks ago, just because it is so easy to use. "  

"They usually run out of food within 24 hours, and it means a lot to us because a few of us actually started using it.  It's just helpful to the students and the community, and we really appreciate everything they (the Buckeye Food Alliance) do for the students on this campus," said Tibbals.

Director of Mentoring, Diversity and Inclusion at Marion Mentors, Haley Wilkes shared that the donation from Pay It Forward Marion means that the 98 kids in their program will have more support.  

 
"They’ll have the products that they need to be healthy, and they’ll be able to enjoy the activities that we buy with this money," said Wilkes.

She also thought the college students took quite a bit away from their interaction with the mentoring organization.   

"At one point when they were listening to the stories, I had every student’s attention. It was hushed. You could tell that they were taking it in and realizing just how important giving back to the community is," Wilkes added.

Speaking on behalf of Marion Mentors student group, sophomore Carmella DiRocco, who is majoring in radiological sciences, thinks that everyone who participated in the service-learning course, despite their area of study, took something positive away from the time invested working with the non-profit organizations in the Marion area.

"We took away a great experience. We got to experience what service work was all about," she said. "I think it helps a lot."