University of Nevada Las Vegas Students Make A Difference

UNLV’s Make a Difference Day efforts on Saturday, October 22, 2011 were a GREAT Success! Over 120 UNLV students, faculty, and staff volunteered almost 400 hours at Make a Difference Day projects with Goodie Two Shoes, Spread the Word Nevada, Project Green: Friends of Pittman Wash, Tonopah Community Garden, and United Way/Albertson’s Food Drives. These volunteers helped give away 1,543 pairs of shoes with Goodie Two Shoes Foundation’s Annual Giveaway, cleaned thousands of books with Spread the Word Nevada to be distributed to underprivileged children, engaged in a community clean-up projects at Pittman Wash with Project Green: Friends of Pittman Wash to help preserve and protect the wildlife and wildlife habitat of Pittman Wash, which is a rare Mojave Desert riparian ecosystem. Students also assisted Tonopah Community Garden with regular cleaning and maintenance while decorating a wall, painting the playground, and preparing a portion of the land for future planting. Other students assisted with the collection over 10,000 lbs of food, 10,000 lbs of household items and clothes and about 3,000 toothbrushes for the United Way of Southern Nevada.

—Amanda Boehmer , Nevada Volunteers’ AmeriCorps VISTA

Amanda is serving as the Outreach Volunteer Coordinator at the UNLV Office of Civic Engagement & Diversity