Clouds don’t dampen spirit of service

Skies may have been overcast and gray, but spirits were bright and sunny as more than 60 faculty and staff volunteers spread out across the Volker and Hospital Hill campuses to beautify the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Painting, planting and picking up were all part of the latest Faculty-Staff Service Day, an event that has become a twice-a-year staple on the two campuses. Service Day has  a dual purpose – to beautify the campus, and as a rallying point for the Faculty-Staff Campaign, an internal component of the  university’s 7-year, $250 million capital fund drive, Campaign for UMKC.

One difference from past service days that  participants noticed right away was a marked drop in the number of cigarette butts littering the campus, no doubt due to the new Smoke-Free UMKC policy that debuted with the start of the fall semester.

Another new wrinkle: a bed of flowers outside the Health Sciences Building was replaced with a mixture of medicinal herbs, as a nod to the “roots” of the health sciences professions taught at the Hospital Hill campus.

The Faculty-Staff Campaign is closing in on both its $5 million goal, and its participation target of 45 percent of employees.

The campus beautification aspect is also important, as UMKC prepares for the annual Founders’ Week activities.