Due to COVID-19 and social distancing, GIVE Day looked a little different this year. Volunteers were divided into small groups and picked up trash along streets near campus, cleaning up the Gannon neighborhood. Wearing this year’s black t-shirts and gardening gloves, volunteers spent the morning serving the community. As one of the volunteers this year, my group and I cleaned up Myrtle. We picked up trash along the road, with our group alone filling two trash bags with trash. In total, Honors students picked up over 100 bags worth of trash. Overall, Honors did well this year and served as positive role models for the community, despite COVID-19. I talked to freshman nursing student and Honors program member Angela Breter about her thoughts on GIVE Day this year. Angela said that her “experience with GIVE Day was great! Seeing people come together and clean up our community is an important thing to do.” Angela also said that her favorite parts of GIVE Day this year were spending time with her friends while cleaning up the community. I also talked to Dr. Bomberger to get her take on this year’s GIVE Day. She answered several questions about her experience with  GIVE Day.

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Q: What stuck out as the biggest change to Give Day for you?

A: Over 1,000 people participate in GIVE Day. It’s quite striking to see that many people in Hammermill Center.

Q: What was your favorite part of GIVE Day this year?

A: It was a beautiful day, and I heard a lot of people heard really positive feedback from the community. I pick up trash a lot on my own, and I live in Our West Bayfront, so I felt that my neighbors and I were supported by Gannon.

Q: Do you believe that GIVE Day should be in the same format next year as it was this year, or should it go back to its previous format?

A: It should go back to its previous structure.

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Hopefully next year we won’t have to worry about COVID-19 so that we can go back to our usual Give Day events, however if we are unable to, we certainly know that Gannon will continue to find ways for us to be involved in giving back to our community. 

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