Press Release: PBL Draws Many Volunteers to Rake Lawns

By Andrew Van Demark

DSU business club Phi Beta Lambda (PBL) hosted their annual Madison Raking for Leaves event on Saturday Nov 3rd at the DSU Physical Plant. It was a cold day after a rainy night, but thankfully it did not rain or snow. Working from the DSU Physical Plant garage, volunteers were provided with energy bars and water along with rakes and a list of lawns to go to.

Over 50 students clubs from across the campus participated in the Raking For Leaves event. Contributing DSU clubs on campus included: PBL, Student Ambassadors, Student Senate, DSU Volleyball team, Softball team, International Club, Intervarsity, Newman Club, Zimmerman Hall Council, Student Activities Board, along with a few individual volunteers.

Each club was given three lawns to rake. Each lawn was given a ranking based on size and difficulty. For instance, the biggest lawns that would take the longest to finish would be ‘X-Large’ while the smaller lawns that wouldn’t take too long would be ranked ‘Small’ or ‘Medium.’

The experience of Phi Beta Lambda was representative. The first lawn the PBL members raked took two hours to finish. PBL also finished three other lawns throughout the day. In addition, Phi Beta Lambda students were also responsible for organizing the effort. Andy Hunter and Tyler Erickson were headquartered at the physical plant receiving calls from the groups on which lawns were done and alerting the drivers which lawns to go to pick up bags. There were two groups of drivers going to the completed lawns to pick up bags of leaves and taking them to the leaf drop-off. Zach Merrill drove one vehicle, generously donated by Jen Hoff, with Chris Johnson while Rigoberto Aquirre drove his personal pickup and trailer with Andrew Van Demark.

There was a strong group effort in preparing for the event in the weeks leading up to the day. Amy Yost and Jeni Habeger worked on the advertising, making posters to promote the event. Tara Krause, Craig Marquis, and Chris Beadles went around Madison to the local businesses hanging up the posters. Cody Abrahamson and Andy Behrens went to talk to the local businesses in Madison asking for donations for the event such as bags or rakes. Megan Pifer emailed all the student organizations on campus asking for volunteers. Ms. Krause also received phone calls from people in Madison who wanted their lawn raked. Ms. Krause, Mr. Merrill, and Tanner Langbehn drove around town to the 18 lawns that called and ranked them on size. Mr. Merrill worked tirelessly in the logistics of the event to make sure it was a success.

A total of 18 lawns were raked in the community in a single day. Overall, we had a great turnout and everyone had a positive attitude.

Featured photo provided by PBL Historian Andrew Van Demark