Holiday Photos: Recap

The photo event the CRC hosted went wonderfully. We had about 20 groups show up to get pictures with and without Sparty.  We want to thank everyone who braved the weather and made it out. We are so glad you came and hope you enjoy your photos.  Once again, we would like to thank our photographer Luke, at  Luke Anthony Photograpy for his amazing photos. Before you go on break, remember to figure out how your sidewalks will be shoveled, your house we be locked up (we suggest you ask a neighbor to watch your home), and heat your house so the pipes don't freeze. Have a wonderful break!

Here are some photos from the event--

Winter Coat and Letter Drive Results

Last Sunday the CRC had a table at the Winter Bowl collecting letters for soldiers who cannot come home over the holiday season and coats for the homeless.  The Winter Bowl was a great event and really fun place to be and we saw a lot of success in both coats and letters.  Oddly enough, the total for both at the moment is 78!

However, the coat drive is still going on until the 17th, so there will be even more coats raised than 78 -- something very impressive and indicative of the great community here in East Lansing. If you would still like to donate a coat, bins are located at the following locations: Hannah Community Center, 819 Abbott Road; East Lansing City Hall, 410 Abbott Road; Lansing Community College East, 2827 Eyde Parkway; and Suite 113 in the Student Services Building on the MSU campus (Career Services Network).

We would like to thank the East Lansing community for coming together and helping out with the coat and letter drive.  It was a cold day and not very good conditions for taking off those gloves and writing a letter, but a ton of people still pitched in and wrote a letter or brought a coat.  It was great to see that kind of compassion from our community.

UPDATE: Registration Closed for Free Family Holiday Portraits

UPDATE:

At this time, all time slots for the event have been filled. We look forward to seeing those who have registered at the event! 
Previous Post:

The CRC is hosting a FREE event on Sunday, December 12th from noon to 3pm in Parlor A on the second floor of the Union. A professional photographer will be taking family portraits - free digital prints will be provided, and you can purchase prints or holiday cards at the event.


At this time, all time slots for photos with Sparty have been filled. Space is still available for group photos without Sparty, so this is a great chance to have a professional photo taken of you and your spouse or significant other, or a group of friends or roommates! Since spaces will be limited, you must sign-up in advance to guarantee a time slot for your group. Walk-ins will be accommodated on a space-available basis. Please complete the form here to sign up for your time slot!  

A big thanks to Luke Anthony Photography, who will be doing this photo shoot at a reduced rate to support the work of the Community Relations Coalition!

CRC Hosts Coat and Letter Drive!

The Community Relations Coalition is hosting a Coat and Letter drive this holiday season to help spread goodwill in the community!

Letter Drive

The CRC will be collecting letters or cards for currently deployed service members to be distributed through Operation Gratitude. Letters will be collected on December 5th from 1:00pm to 4:00pm at the Winter Bowl Soup and Chili Cook-Off. Our table will be located at the Ann Street Plaza. Letters should be addressed generically ("Dear Hero," "Dear Soldier," etc.) and should not be in an envelope or have postage, as they will be sent in bulk to Operation Gratitude to be screened and mailed to overseas troops. Here are some tips from Operation Gratitude on writing your letter or card:

• letters should fit in a standard size envelope
• include your name and address in the body of the letter
• do not write about politics, religion, death or killing
• please do not use glitter
• keep it upbeat and positive!

Coat Drive

The CRC will also be collecting gently used or new coats to benefit area homeless shelters. Coats will be collected by Advent House and distributed to other agencies in the area through the Greater Lansing Homeless Resolution Network. If you cannot make it to the Winter Bowl on December 5th from 1:00pm to 4:00pm, there will also be bins located at drop-off points leading up to the event (locations TBD - check back for more info soon). Some pointers for donating a coat:

• there is a particular need for adult coats this year, especially nicer coats that can be worn to job interviews to help people get back on their feet
• if you have the means, please have used coats cleaned prior to donating
• if you don't have a coat to donate but would like to participate, you could also donate a small gift card to a department store or Burlington Coat Factory; shelters use these to supplement their coat supply

Last year, the CRC collected 300 coats - let's do our best to beat our record this year!

BYOP: Recap

So the BYOP was extremely successful! Thanks to everyone who made it out. We are fairly certain we will be hosting this event next year. Some pictures are below:

State News covers CRC's BYOP Event

Robbie Couch from the State News joined us for today's BYOP event. Check out the video online here!

Upcoming Event -- BYOP

Pumpkin carving season is upon us!  This Sunday the 24th, a week before Halloween, the CRC is hosting a pumpkin carving event for the community.  Long term residents and children are welcome, and of course, students.  The event is a pumpkin carving event, but with a limited amount of pumpkins!  So bring your own pumpkin or come a little early.  There will be materials on hand to carve pumpkins and clean up.  On top of pumpkin carving, there will be free Uncle John's Cider and Doughnuts.  The event is at the Bailey Pump House and starts at Noon and will go until 1:30 pm.   It will be a great event to come to and get to know your neighbors a little bit better.  So come and join us this Sunday and enjoy some free goodies and have fun carving pumpkins!

Yoga! Yoga! Yoga!

Our first event that has been created by one of our interns- how exciting! Our intern Marilyn, an avid yoga-ist, has come up with a brilliant idea to be the leader of a free-community wide yoga class. It is designed for all ages, any ability level, or anyone who is merely interested in yoga.  Some of the great benefits of this class are its free, you get a good exercise, and it does nothing less but make you feel better before you came.  Every week, the class is growing in size, allowing for greater opportunity to meet your neighbors and socialize with people you may have never met.  If you are at all interested, don't hesitate to ask us.  The sessions take place every sunday, from 2:00-3:15ish, in the Hannah Community Center.  There are 6 more classes left. Either show up for class, or if you have any other questions, please email us at crc@msu.edu.
Have a wonderful day!

Neighborhood Cleanups

Today we completed the second of our Neighborhood Cleanups for this fall season. The first cleanup was after the Notre Dame game and today's cleanup followed the Wisconsin game -- two Spartan victories, an added bonus. The cleanups have drawn numerous student, some long term residents and the Mayor as well. Mayor Loomis has attended each cleanup to say a few words and show his commitment to the city through service. The cleanups are a great way to build community and show a dedication to the East Lansing community. If you are a student and come out you are saying that not all students neglect cleaning up after themselves while celebrating. If you are a resident who comes to help, you send the message that you care for the community as well and take your role as a citizen seriously. It is easy for some residents to simply say that they do not want to clean up after college students, shirking their responsibility. However, most of the pick up is done by college students who did not make the mess either, but care enough about the community to help clean it up. We want to thank all of the long term residents who recognize this fact and have come out to help with the clean up. Another thank you goes to the students who have done such a great job showing up and cleaning up. If you have missed the clean ups but want to help out and show your commitment to your community (and snack on some free doughnuts) be on the lookout. There will be more clean ups in the future and there is always room for those who want to help.



Volunteers preparing to divide up into groups



Evidence of a job well done!

Events: Ice Cream Socials

Throughout the late summer and early fall, the CRC hosted several ice cream socials. They took place in the Bailey neighborhood, Red Cedar neighborhood, as well as the Oakhill neighborhood. The goal of the social was to bring long-term residents and students into the same vicinity so they can congregate and meet, and learn about each other. We wanted the two groups to interact and gain a mutual respect for each other. We felt an ice cream social is one of the good ways to get people out of their homes and talking with one another. As one of the interns who was able to attend all three gatherings, I would say that they all went quite well. Some pictures are below.

Upcoming CRC Clean-Up featured in State News

Group invites students, E. L. to help in post-game cleanup

Training Week

Welcome back all!  It's a new year, with new goals and new interns.  After selecting new interns for the year, we quickly got started with a very informational training week.

Day 1: We all arrive to the same location to begin learning about each other, and begin our team building activities.  We also learned the history of East Lansing. After lunch the "gringling" began.  Gringling consists of greeting and mingling.  We would later find out that gringling is a very integral part of being an intern at the CRC.

Day 2: To start the day, we met at City Hall to meet with East Lansing Fire Marshal Bob Pratt.  We were educated on many common fire issues that no one really notices. We then met Police Chief Tom Wibert to learn about the community and the relation between the community and the university.  After lunch, we traveled up to The Department of Public Works to learn about its role in keeping the community functioning- getting the details about recycling within the community.

Day 3: This day consisted of meeting many important figures within the community.  There are many to talk about but it consisted of meeting and talking with the city board to understand what goes on behind the scenes of the city, and truly find out how the community feels about itself.

Day 4: My favorite day by far.  It consisted of all team building at an off-site location.  It was in the middle of the woods, where we had to work together under many different scenarios in order to accomplish a goal.  Some of the tasks included wall climbs, being "imprisoned" with ropes, and high ropes course.  All proved to be demanding of our wit and cooperation.  A very long day to say the least.

Day 5: Our last day. To sum it up, we talked about financial policies within the CRC to help us get a better understanding of where it comes from.  It was a bunch of small business info that is important to us, but not many others.  After that we were done and graduated!

Happy Spartan Spring!

The crazy end of the year is finally upon us again. We are all scrambling to tie up loose ends with final projects and papers. I will be closing out my CRC internship along with my MSU career, which is a lot to swallow. Six of the other interns will also be graduating. This definitely does not mean that us CRC interns have abandoned our mission. We have been working in different group projects this semester.

My project involves a book drive to one of the East Lansing Public Schools, Donley Elementary. They have been participating in a book drive for a couple of years in order to keep the students reading throughout the summer even if they do not have the means to. We will help this year with the drive and end with a final Book Bingo event on Thursday, May 6th from 6- 7:30 p.m. We will be using all of the books that we raised to pass out to the kids as they win games of bingo. There will be pizza and other fun activities for the parents as well as the kids. It should be a fun and effective event. If any of you have books to donate, please do! More information on where to drop off books will be given later.

Another project that is occurring is an Earth Day clean up on Monday, April 4th from 4-7 pm. We will be meeting at the Bailey Community Center. It will be a mixture of student life, involving the Greek Life, and other permanent residents. It will be a wonderful way to interact and make the city of East Lansing a better place to live!

The third group will be participating in a green initiative. On Friday April 23rd, CRC members, and other members from organizations around MSU, will be passing out energy efficient light bulbs to residents in East Lansing. It is a great way to keep pushing efficiency in the city we live in.

Overall, CRC interns are working on some great projects. We will keep you updated on all of the progress made!

Go Green!

Apply for this Internship!

Hey everyone,

I hope you’ve all been enjoying the wonderful weather and took pride in the Spectacular Spartan victory last Sunday. In the midst of March Madness, the Community Relations Coalition is diving into the search for next year’s interns. As a graduating senior intern, I have only great things to say about the work I’ve done with the CRC. I’m always going to cherish the memories I have of hanging out with my fellow interns, volunteering to make the city a better place, and building connections with city officials and long-term residents. This internship has been a fantastic experience that has helped me develop numerous skills that I will take on to graduate school and my professional arena. My internship with the CRC also greatly bolstered my network at MSU, giving me connections to people across the university and the city of East Lansing.

As someone who will surely miss this internship, I highly suggest that you consider applying to the internship for next year. In order to do so, you only have to meet a few requirements: you have to be a junior or senior in the Fall of 2010, be living off campus for the 2010-2011 academic year, and be in good academic standing. If you meet those requirements, you are eligible to apply for this internship, which (aside from the wonderful experience you will gain) includes a financial remuneration. Go to www.wealllivehere.org in order to find the application materials.

Take care,
Go Green!

Valentine's Day

Happy Snow Day!
The season of love, happiness, flowers, and celebration is upon us. CRC got the opportunity to volunteer at the Bailey Community Center Valentine’s Day Party. I had no idea what to expect, but I made sure to wear my pink heart headband!
A few of the CRC members baked heart-shaped cookies for the decorating station. The sugar cookies turned out great and were a hit at the party. There was also a card making station. It was a lot of fun to interact with the families of the Bailey neighborhood. Throughout out year with CRC, we have gotten the opportunity to congregate with many permanent residents, but they all seem to be the adults. This was one of the first times that we were able to play and laugh with the younger children. Personally, I adore children so I loved every minute of it!
The children were happily content with anything and everything that happened at the party. Our main event was a “bubbleologist”. His performance was great! I cannot believe the things he was doing with bubbles. My favorite was the ‘volcano bubble’ that released smoke. I was just as entertained as the children. Next week we have the Spaghetti dinner at Marble Elementary School. It is another chance for us to hang out with the children. I cannot wait!

Go green!

ASMSU Gathering

ASMSU has been a vital ally to our organization, to the MSU campus, and to the greater community in general. They graciously invited us to attend a community reception held at Dublin Square Pub. Many of the CRC interns, including myself, jumped at this opportunity.
At the event, there were representatives from the City of East Lansing, the East Lansing Police Department, Community Relations Coalition, ASMSU, and MSU administration. President Lou Anna K. Simon was even there! To kick off the night, there were DELICIOUS appetizers with light mingling among the attendees. I, personally, was able to catch up with some members from the CRC Board that I had not seen in many weeks.
We were all quickly seated at our assigned tables. At the tables, there was an assortment of different ages, perspectives, and positions. This was a great idea that ASMSU had. Many times, the CRC interns tend to stay together (because we get along so well!). But, with the assigned seating, it gave us the opportunity to branch out and get to know other members of our community. We were given some conversation points to help us delve into the larger topics of possible events, goals, and initiatives that could help create a strong community in East Lansing.
It was a great way to organize the event. At my table, we discussed mostly environmental initiatives. We talked about the importance to involve all sectors of the populations in order to truly gain a sense of unity, meaning the Michigan State students, the university professors and staff, the permanent residents, and the children. There was the idea of a community garden to involve everyone in a beneficial way in social capital, environmental sustainability, and educational reasons. We also discussed how all of our connections could really create something great that has an impact for years to come. I was excited to see the passion other people have for this city; it was inspiring!
Throughout the discussion, we were able to eat a fantastic gourmet dinner. After dinner was cleared up, ASMSU had two mediators to break into a large group discussion of goals and their feasibility. It was interesting to hear what all the other tables talked about. There was a lot of emphasis placed on the economic regression in East Lansing and how people should want to stay in the city. I am interested to see how far these talks will go and hopefully many of these goals will become a reality. This was one of my favorite events that we were able to attend as a group. It for sure was an amazing way to get away from college cooking! The excellent conversation was a bonus.

Go White,
Kanika