Roeper Alumni Reconnect, Volunteer Time as Part of New Service Corps

While sitting at her computer reading yet another negative story about Detroit last spring, Roeper alumna Jenny Hansell was saddened by the coverage of the area in which she grew up. She quickly updated her Facebook status to read, “Sometimes I wish I could just move back to Detroit to make a difference.”

Within minutes, fellow alums chimed in sharing similar sentiments, and with those few keystrokes, the seeds for the Roeper Alumni Service Corps (RASC) were planted.

Hansell partnered with fellow alums Brad Rourke and Pam Victor to create the RASC, which during the first week of August brought alumni together for a week of service in downtown Detroit.

“I carry the Roeper philosophy of caring for others in my DNA,” said Hansell, who graduated from Roeper in 1982 after 14 years at the school. “And that same philosophy was at the core of our decision to create the RASC.”

The founding members of the RASC came up with several principles and a mission statement to guide the group’s efforts. Those principles include bringing Roeper alumni together in the spirit of the school to use their creative energy for a greater good. The group is committed to making a concrete difference in Detroit and is committed to working with various local community organizations to do so.

“The local organizations know better than we do what is needed,” Hansell explains. “We don’t want to ride in on our white horses thinking we know best, so we looked for an organization that could accommodate a group and allow us to hit the ground running.”

For its inaugural week of service, the RASC partnered with Focus: HOPE and Summer in the City. Under their guidance, more than 20 Roeper alums and family members volunteered their time Aug. 1-5 beautifying a community garden. Approximately a third of the Roeper participants came in from out of town to be part of the effort. Hansell, now living in Sharon, CT, was among them.

The team cleaned and weeded the garden and built a 10-foot pergola to provide park visitors with a shaded spot to sit.

Prior to commencing work, Hansell had approached a local landscape company about donating some flowers and was overwhelmed with the response.

“I’d never seen so many flowers in one place in my life,” Hansell said of when the flower truck arrived. “We were fortunate to get so many flowers donated that we were able to take some to a second garden in the city.”

Hansell and fellow RASC members were encouraged by the turnout at the group’s first event and hope to make the week of service an annual occurrence.

“Going into this we didn’t know if it would be an ongoing thing, but we got a lot of great feedback and plan to do it again next August,” Hansell says. “We’ll pick another Detroit-based project.”

While the group aims to keep its efforts focused on Detroit, Hansell said they're hoping it encourages Roeper alumni around the country to initiate other similar programs under the RASC banner.

Emery Pence, Roeper’s alumni relations director, couldn’t be more pleased.

 “We’re so proud of our alumni for their dedication to Detroit and the Roeper family,” he says. "This initiative fits perfectly with Roeper’s mission and connects alumni to each other, the school and the wider community.”