CULLOWHEE –Western Carolina University’s Academic Success Program and community partners raised nearly $4,000 for The Community Table, Jackson Neighbors in Need and Communities in Schools during the third annual ASP Day of Service held July 20.
Nearly $2,000 of the $4,000 raised to benefit the three Jackson County nonprofit organizations came from the ASP Day of Service festival held at Bridge Park. The event featured carnival games for children, a raffle, live music, informational booths for local nonprofit organizations, a benefit lunch from Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort and a fake jail fundraiser. An evening benefit concert was performed by PMA and Porch 40.
Meanwhile, Walmart of Sylva provided $1,500 in grant awards to the nonprofit organizations and served as a designated donation site, collecting an additional $500 in donations and items from the nonprofits’ wish lists.
In addition, about 170 ASP students and faculty and staff members from WCU completed more than 900 hours of service for Catman2, Appalachian Homestead Farm and Preserve, the Sylva Rotary, the Community Garden, WATR river cleanup, Pathways Thrift Store and a roadside cleanup along Highway 107 and Old Cullowhee Road.
Partnering on the service effort were ASP, Walmart, Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort, the Town of Sylva, the WCU Center for Service Learning, the Sylva Rotary, WCU Athletics, WRGC, the Sylva Police Department and other Sylva businesses and nonprofit organizations.
For more information, contact Glenda Hensley, director of First Year Experiences at WCU, at ghensley@wcu.edu or 828-227-2786, or visit fye.wcu.edu online.
– WCU
