October 25, 2008
Registration begins at 9:30
Walk at 10:00am
Cloud Commons - University Union
University of Wisconsin - Green Bay
The Steps to Make a Difference Walk is the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay’s (UWGB) campus response to the national Make a Difference Day, held annually on the last Saturday of October (the 25th this year). Steps Walk encourages UWGB students, student organizations, faculty, staff and Green Bay community members to ‘step up and help others’ by enjoying a 4 mile walk on the campus arboretum trail and donating to the charity of their choice. The walk aids nonprofit organizations that serve thousands of people throughout the Green Bay community, but also provides an opportunity for students to learn how to organize, advertise and lead an event, as well as connect together in to help others.
In 2002, the Public and Nonprofit Management Class embraced the university’s mission of ‘connecting learning to life,’ by creating the first Steps to Make a Difference Walk. Every fall the students in the class, under the guidance of the UWGB Civics Club, work together to plan, organize, and implement the charity walk. This year in collaboration with the UWGB Civics Club, a group of student leaders will plan, organize and implement the charity walk. In four years, the Steps Walk has raised over $35,000 for nonprofit organizations throughout the Green Bay community, receiving national attention in USA Weekend as a semi-finalist for a Make a Difference Award.
Countless challenges face our community, from debilitating diseases, degradation of the environment and homelessness. Over the past four years, money raised from the walk has gone to the NEW Community Clinic, New Community Shelter, Baird Creek Preservation Foundation, ALS Therapy Development Institute, the Bay Area Humane Society and Animal Shelter, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society – Wisconsin Chapter, Cystic Fibrosis, and the American Red Cross – Lakeland Chapter. These funds have helped provide prescription medications not otherwise available for clients at the NEW Community Clinic, new blankets for residents as they leave the NEW Community Shelter, support for the development of the master plan for Baird Creek, and transportation for elderly and disabled clients of the Red Cross, among other support. A guiding principle of the Steps Walk is to deliver 100 percent of the donations made by walkers to these deserving nonprofit organizations.
In addition to the benefits discussed above, the Steps Walk is uniquely positioned to help students become more engaged, active, caring community members. Students organizing the event gain leadership, organizational and team-building skills. They learn about challenges faced by local nonprofit organizations as they work closely with nonprofit leaders during the planning of the walk. By involving over two dozen student organizations, Steps Walk provides opportunities for over 200 students to “give back” to their community by not only raising donations as walkers, but also learning about the work of the nonprofit organizations during the day of the walk. Since the walk began, over a dozen students have gone directly into entry-level management positions of nonprofit organizations in the state, but perhaps the best evidence of the ability of the Steps Walk to be a transformative experience for students is the high number of students who note this event as memorable in the alumni survey and who contribute or participate in the event after graduation.
Our long term goal for this project is two-fold. First: that Steps Walk continues to have a positive impact on the greater Green Bay community as well as the students as UWGB. The UWGB Civics Club has set a goal to raise $15,000 for the 2008 event, and a total of $100,000 for local charities by 2012. We also hope that one day the Steps Walk will be implemented on other college campuses throughout Wisconsin, as a way for other campuses to respond to the national Make a Difference Day.
Steps Walk 2008 chairs Bridget Koeshall and Allen Voelker at stpda@uwgb.edu or call the Office of Student Life at 920-465-2519
