Warm Coats for Winter

Much to my personal dismay, they are predicting that the state of Montana is gearing up for yet another harsh winter this year.  With cold fronts already having moved into many parts of the state, it seems that they are here to stay leaving community members scrambling to adequately prepare for what's in store.  For some Montana residents this can be quite a challenge, as the necessity of a warm winter coat is often an investment that financially unstable citizens are unable to make. In response to this pressing community need our Campus Corps programs have responded by organizing local coat drives to collect new and gently used coats to be distributed to those in need.  Specifically, Campus Corps programs at Rocky Mountain College, Fort Peck Community College, & Stone Child College have rallied their student bodies as well as their neighboring communities to improve the well being of their communities one warm coat at a time.

If you would like to learn more about these initiatives, contact Campus Corps leaders Jill Washburn (campuscorps@rocky.edu) at Rocky Mountain College, Katie Wise (kwise@fpcc.edu) at Fort Peck Community College, or Michael Yegerlehner myegerlehner@stonechild.edu at Stone Child College.  Furthermore, you can visit onewarmcoat.org to learn how to start your own coat drive!

New Kid on the Block - Carson Booth!

The newest addition to the 2011-2012 team of Campus Corps leaders, Carson Booth has already made great strides in his role as leader at Flathead Valley Community College in Kalispell, MT.  Born and raised in the nearby town of Sommers, MT Carson finds himself right at home in the Flathead Valley.  He is a true Montana native in that he enjoys spending his free time engaging in activities like hiking, fishing, hunting, and working on his truck.  He also enjoys gardening and skiing in the nearby mountains come winter.

Carson attended Whitman College located in Walla Walla, Washington where he studied Political Theory & Philosophy.  He has since switched gears and plans to pursue a degree in Architecture and in the future sees himself working to promote healthy civic and community life through his practice of both architecture and landscape architecture.

While enrolled as a student at Whitman, Carson illustrated his ability to "get things done" even when approached with some pretty discouraging challenges along the way. Specifically, Carson and a fellow student   managed to successfully set up a program on campus that distributed leftover food from the dining halls to local shelters.  Although they unexpectedly encountered many legal regulations in place that inhibited progress in such efforts, their continued dedication and hard work paid off and the program was a great success, providing meals to hundreds of hungry people living in the Walla Walla Valley. It is evident that Carson has brought this same admirable work ethic and credible leadership skills to the work that he is involved in at FVCC. He has already set some ambitious goals for his program this year and brings to the table many new and creative ideas to guide him in reaching them.  Carson is committed to doing his best as a Campus Corps leader to meet his community's needs, and the Flathead Valley is so lucky to have him!

Can the Cats/Griz Food Drive: Let the Games Begin!

November 5th marks the official start date of the 12th annual "Can the Cats/Griz" food drive: an off-field competition between UM and MSU to see which campus can collect the most food donations for their local food banks.  Campuses work with their local communities to get as many people as possible to donate non-perishable food items in addition to monetary donations, which they are accepting for the first time this year.


The drive culminates with the November 19th match-up between the MSU Bobcats and the UM Grizzlies, as the winning school is announced during halftime.  Last year's competition was a close one and the Cats just managed to come out on top at 27,000 pounds of non perishable foods with both campuses collectively gathering more than 40,000 pounds of food!!  While UM has made it clear that they are hungry for a win this year, MSU promises to provide some tough competition and have ambitiously set their goal at 32,000 pounds of food! Good luck to both campuses - win or lose you will succeed in making huge strides in your community's efforts to eliminate hunger!


Contributions of non-perishable food items can be dropped off at several locations throughout the Missoula community (for the Griz - of course) as well as various sites within the Bozeman area in support of the Cats. Furthermore, both efforts are collecting monetary donations which will be converted to pounds at a rate of $1.60 equaling one pound of food. For further information, contact Campus Corps leaders Alex Black (MSU) at teamleader@montana.edu or Shanna Ungate (UM) at shanna.ungate@mso.umt.edu.