More Salt & Light

What time is it? John Gaski, marketing professor and founding member of
grassroots Central Time Coalition, has spent the last five years advocating for restoring eastern Indiana to CTS.

Sandra Collins, associate teaching professor of management, has watched over the plight of neglected and abused children as a long-term Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteer.

Jerry Langley is involved in several organizations, but the one he especially takes pride in helping is the South Bend Civic Theater, where he serves as a board member and is active in other ways, all in an effort to promote arts in the local community.

Langley, a finance professional specialist, also works with Volunteers of America, a billion-dollar national nonprofit that helps the elderly, veterans and former prisoners with medical issues, housing and other needs. Tom Harvey, director of Nonprofit Professional Development, also supports VOA, both personally and professionally as a partnering organization.

Domestic violence can happen to anyone, anywhere, at any age, and its lifelong effects are devastating. An estimated one in four women experience domestic violence in her lifetime. The 3.3 million children who witness violence in their homes each year are 15 times more likely to be victims of child abuse.

Wendy Angst, management associate professional specialist, became a volunteer with YWCA of North Central Indiana to let women know they’re not alone, and there is a way out. “Our YWCA stands by the commitment to turn no one away,” says Angst who now serves on the board of directors. “They served 1,415 women and children in the past year alone.”

Since 2002, Mike Vogel, entrepreneur-in-residence with the Gigot Center for Entrepreneurship, has had a passion for helping children with special needs. He’s been involved with a range of organizations, but today, his main focus is the CASIE Center, a child advocacy center in South Bend, Ind. CASIE provides a comprehensive and coordinated multidisciplinary team approach to the problem of child abuse by establishing a safe, supportive, child-friendly environment for child victims, their families and professionals who investigate and address these problems. In 2013, CASIE conducted 1,610 interviews of children at the center.

For 24 years, James O’Rourke IV has helped countless people take a seat. The director of the Fanning Center for Business Communication serves as the captain of the ushers in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, coordinating a small group of students and retired businesspeople to help worshippers find seats, assist the handicapped and manage communion and the collection, as well as the occasional medical emergency during the Sunday 10 a.m. solemn high Mass.

Julie Phillips has made education her career and the focus of her service work. The associate program director of the Master of Science in Accountancy serves on the Baugo Community School’s Board of Trustees. Some of her efforts include saving a historic gym, establishing an endowed scholarship and recruiting MSA international students to staff a seventh grade Junior Achievement program.

Every spring during Lent, the posters go up in Mendoza like clockwork, encouraging folks to donate boxes of mac and cheese, cans of vegetables, boxes of cereal and other foodstuffs to the 40 Boxes in 40 Days campaign. Tamara Springer, an editorial assistant in the Faculty Support Department, has coordinated the food drive for nine years. “Every year, we’ve surpassed our goal with food and cash donations from the College,” says Springer. “This is one way that we Ask More of Business™ and reach out into the community to do good.”

Peggy Bolstetter’s service opportunities came to her in a very personal fashion. In 2006, her only brother, Anthony, was diagnosed with AML leukemia. Although his best hope for survival was a bone marrow transplant, a match wasn’t found. Other treatments proved unsuccessful. Following his death in 2009, Bolstetter and her sister began sponsoring the annual Christopher’s Challenge Walk, an event that raises funds to pay for the typing of samples for individuals willing to become potential donors through the National Marrow Donor Program.

Today, Bolstetter, a marketing communications program manager, also supports the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in honor of her 3-year-old grandson, Vincenzo, who was diagnosed with the disease at 6-weeks old. “Great strides have been made and the life expectancy of CF patients has increased,” she says. “But our prayer is that Enzo and all who suffer from CF will benefit from continued research and effective treatment, and live a full, fruitful, long life.”