This student-run program is designed to match volunteers with service opportunities in the Hays area. Sponsored by the Student Government Association, the Center for Civic Leadership, and the Office of Student Affairs, Tigers in Service is a clearinghouse for students with a desire to participate in community service activities.

Hurricane Help for Schools

To help children affected by the recent hurricanes, Tigers In Service collected donations of school supplies to send to the disaster areas. On Make A Difference Day 2005, TIS volunteers stood outside Wal-Mart and handed out lists of school supplies to the business’ customers. The volunteers waited until the patrons came back out of the store and collected donations from them. There were also donation boxes throughout the FHSU campus for people to donate before the event at Wal-Mart. Tigers In Service collected over 500 pounds of school supplies to donate to victims of the recent hurricanes.

School Supplies Shipped to Franklin Upper Elementary

On November 17, volunteers gathered in front of Sheridan Hall on the Fort Hays State University campus to load 500 pounds of school supplies onto a Yellow Transportation semi-truck for Hurricane Help for Schools. According to the U.S. Department of Education, more than 372,000 childrens' lives were devastated by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. Hurricane Help for Schools gives school supplies to children affected by the hurricanes. After the school supplies were loaded in the truck, they were shipped to Franklin Upper Elementary school in Meadville, Mississippi. Through the Tigers in Service program, Hurricane Help for Schools, and Yellow Transportation, this effort has helped to relieve some of the burden placed on families affected by the hurricanes, and it has allowed the FHSU students and community members an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of children many miles away. Karey Jackson, 4th grade special education teacher at Franklin Upper Elementary, had this to say after receiving the school supplies: “Thank you, thank you, thank you! Honestly I could fill up a whole page with those words and it would still not express our appreciation! The students were overjoyed! It was like Christmas to us and them!”

Kyle, a Yellow Transportation driver, helps FHSU students load the supplies to be shipped.