CES Community Service
CES believes in giving back! Community service projects have long been a part of the CES Annual Meeting and have become an event that all Extension employees can support during Extension Annual Conference. Chosen projects have proven to be fun and beneficial for Extension employees and the recipients.
Food Drive
Mid Ohio Food Pantry, has been the focus of our annual food drive. Previous recipients have included the Salvation Army’s Carroll Christian Center and Loaves & Fishes Food Pantry in Carrollton. In recent years, over 600 pounds of food have been donated by generous Extension staff for the Mid Ohio Food Pantry.
Dave Whaley Fund
In 1999, our service project involved one of our own. Michelle Whaley, School of Natural Resources, lost her husband after complications from heart surgery. Michelle had just given birth to their son, Dillon, a month earlier. Now she was left with a newborn, financial obligations and an emptiness in her heart. Almost $1,000 and just as many diapers, as well as canned goods, formula and special gifts for Dillon were collected at the Support Staff Conference that year.
Bucks for the Military
In support of OSU faculty and staff serving in our military, OSU Extension conducted a service project, coordinated by CES. A large collection of items, including Buckeye memorabilia, were collected during the CFAES Support Staff Conference and at the 2008 OSU Extension Annual Conference.
Eight boxes of items were sent to Glenn Welling Jr. an OSU Extension Educator stationed at Camp Bucca in Iraq and arrived just in time for the Michigan-Ohio tailgate party planned on the base. Glenn states, “We will set up a care package area in our conference room so that as our folks come through to pick up their mail, they will be able to select from the items that were sent. We have a few huge Buckeye fans so I will make sure that they get something appropriate. I know that our sailors will really appreciate the gesture.”