Giving back to the community is an action that several Montgomery College clubs try to do throughout the year. From March 6-8, the Macklin Business Institute at MC held a clothing and shoe drive to benefit children who do not have clothes or shoes to wear.
The MBI is an honors business program that offers “experiential learning program for business students to get hands-on experience in the business world and local community,” according to the club’s page on the MC website. Members of the club do various activities to better the community in a business-like fashion. What better way to gain real-world experience and better the community than to collect clothes and shoes for children who do not have these items?
The clothes that the MBI collects will go to an upscale store that can sell them, and the shoes will go towards “Walk in my Shoes,” an organization that helps children around the world who do not have shoes. “We’re trying to get as much clothes as we can, but… what [the store is] doing is really helping out people in the community and I think that’s good and we’re also learning from this,” said freshman Edwin Solano, who is a member of the MBI.
“Walk in my Shoes” and the store are not the only ones benefiting from this clothing and shoe drive. The MBI has much to gain from this experience as well. MBI participates in a competition called Students in Free Enterprise, SIFE, in which they present their knowledge and experience with helping the community. Holding this clothing and shoe drive is another experience that the MBI can add to its list of community charity work. The more MBI members help the community, the better presentations they can give at their SIFE competitions.
In addition to this drive, the MBI has held other charity events to help out the community, and it is nowhere near finished with its work. According to Solano, the MBI is trying to hold as many events as possible before and after spring break. “We all shared interest in [the drive] when it was first presented to us because we have different projects that we can choose and everyone volunteered to help out,” said Solano.
With the conclusion of the drive, the MBI has already begun planning future events that members can include in their presentation for SIFE. Very soon, the MBI is planning to hold a “Change for Change” donation drive in which members will collect pocket change to donate to charity.
Along with the Change for Change, the MBI has another project in mind that could potentially benefit everyone who participates. According to freshman Harleen Singh, who is also a member of the MBI, this project involves people pledging to do one thing that can somehow benefit themselves or the environment, such as turning off the light or even exercising for 15 minutes per day. “[Participants] can make a difference if they had the courage to do anything at all,” said Singh. This project will surely yield several positive results, and, in the process, give the MBI yet another impressive community service action to add to its presentation for SIFE.