This semester for her project management class, senior Caroline Corbett and her group will market a partnership between St. Michael's Laundry and the South Bend Center for the Homeless to provide clothes to the impoverished. This project will allow students to have real world experiences and also serve those who are in need.
"Professor Angst presented our class different ideas that people have come to him with," Corbett said. "This was just one that we as a group were the most interested in."
Corbett said St. Michael's and the Center for the Homeless already had the idea for collaboration and just needed assistance with promoting the campaign.
To contribute, people can bring in clothes, towels and sheets to St. Michael's to be given to the Center for the Homeless. Corbett said St. Michael's has agreed to wash dirty clothes and make slight alterations for donations if needed.
Along with three women - one from St. Michael's, the Center for the Homeless and the Notre Dame Development Office - Corbett and her group have made significant progress.
"We've been working through all different kinds of marketing avenues, including Scholastic, DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, dorm donation boxes, Martin's Supermarkets, the Hammes Bookstore and the University Park Mall," Corbett said. "We also want to get with local parishes and Siegfried Hall's Day of Man."
The group's goal is to market the donation campaign to students, faculty and South Bend residents.
"We also want this to be a sustainable program, not just a drive," Corbett said. "We've been working with Student Council to see if this can be a student-run project for years to come."
Corbett said the group would like the campaign to be seasonal - meaning a push for cold weather gear during the winter and suits for fall and spring, which are peak job interview times.
"There are all kinds of donation drives year round, but I hope this will be something that will be around for a long time," Corbett said. "Whenever you get your clothes cleaned by St. Michael's, we want people to be reminded that they can donate and help out the homeless people at the shelter."
Though the official campaign has not begun, students can begin to donate clothes at the St. Michael's Distribution Center.
