Spring Break
Students don't need charity, they provide it
Andrew Thomason
Issue date: 3/28/07 Section: News
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During the Fall 2006 semester, 11,368 students attended Western - the majority of them lived in Macomb and the surrounding areas. With those kind of numbers, the majority contribute to the local community in some form, whether or not they are aware of it.
Like full-time employees of Western, students contribute through sales tax when they purchase goods such as food and gasoline, but this is not the only way they feed money into the local economy.
Of the nearly 12,000 students, over half live off campus. With the average monthly rental in Macomb costing $495, students pay roughly $3,000,000 every month to landlords.
"The rental housing industry is due largely to the students … parents and families pay bed tax when they stay in our hotels," said Lisa Patterson of the Macomb Area Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Development.
The bed tax is a 5 percent charge levied against the charge of staying in a hotel or motel. According to the city budget, these monies are used solely to attract tourism to the area. Without the funds raised by families of Western students, the ability to attract tourists would be diminished.
More memorable than the financial contributions of students is the philanthropic footprints they leave in their paths. While some might see Western students and automatically think of binge drinking, many contribute to the community by donating their time.
As a requirement to be recognized by Western as a Greek organization, fraternities and sororities must perform some sort of charity in the local community. Some choose to adopt a road and then ensure its cleanliness while others hold events to support cancer victims.
Sunday, March 31, the Phi Sigma Sigmas are holding an event called Kick for Kidneys to help people with kidney disease.
"This money all goes to Phi Sigma Sigma's philanthropy, the National Kidney Foundation. According to our founders, kidney disease was the No. 1 killer of women in 1913 when we were founded, so they made it our philanthropy," said Vicki Smith, junior journalism major and Phi Sigma Sigma.
Like full-time employees of Western, students contribute through sales tax when they purchase goods such as food and gasoline, but this is not the only way they feed money into the local economy.
Of the nearly 12,000 students, over half live off campus. With the average monthly rental in Macomb costing $495, students pay roughly $3,000,000 every month to landlords.
"The rental housing industry is due largely to the students … parents and families pay bed tax when they stay in our hotels," said Lisa Patterson of the Macomb Area Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Development.
The bed tax is a 5 percent charge levied against the charge of staying in a hotel or motel. According to the city budget, these monies are used solely to attract tourism to the area. Without the funds raised by families of Western students, the ability to attract tourists would be diminished.
More memorable than the financial contributions of students is the philanthropic footprints they leave in their paths. While some might see Western students and automatically think of binge drinking, many contribute to the community by donating their time.
As a requirement to be recognized by Western as a Greek organization, fraternities and sororities must perform some sort of charity in the local community. Some choose to adopt a road and then ensure its cleanliness while others hold events to support cancer victims.
Sunday, March 31, the Phi Sigma Sigmas are holding an event called Kick for Kidneys to help people with kidney disease.
"This money all goes to Phi Sigma Sigma's philanthropy, the National Kidney Foundation. According to our founders, kidney disease was the No. 1 killer of women in 1913 when we were founded, so they made it our philanthropy," said Vicki Smith, junior journalism major and Phi Sigma Sigma.
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