by Darius Owens

(June 9, 2014) — The University of Kentucky Advising Network recently hosted its fifth annual Day of Service May 16th. Each year the network selects a local organization to give back to in the Lexington community.

This year, 48 members of the UK Advising Network volunteered to serve Bluegrass Greensource, a nonprofit organization that provides education and resources on how we affect our environment. Since 2001, the nonprofit has provided outreach to schools, community groups, businesses, local government and citizens throughout Central Kentucky. A&S Advisors Krista Abner, Jennifer Ellis, Jenn Garlin, Shaun Ketterman, and Alicia Seabrooks took part in the effort.

UK Advising Network volunteers worked in several areas of environment conservancy.

The first two groups assigned to the Clays Mill neighborhood and Southland Park or the Meadows neighborhood and Castlewood Park distributed door hangers with information about the safe disposal of fat, oil and grease and also gave out FOG lids. These lids can be used to cover a can containing those products until it can cool and thicken where it can be thrown in the trash.

"This is much better for the environment than pouring it down a drain where it would clog city sewers," says Ryan Sallee, advisor for Undergraduate Studies. "Once all the door hangers and lids were distributed, the group picked up litter in their respective areas."

The third group went to the main office of Bluegrass Greensource and performed a number of tasks to assist with their educational outreach programming, which included cleaning and checking a variety of equipment used in programs aimed at teaching children to be friends of the environment.

After the community service was completed, the groups returned to campus and had lunch at E.S. Good Barn, where they listened to a presentation given by Brian Lee, from the Department of Landscape Architecture, on the UK Rain Garden, located behind the Gluck Equine Research Center. The garden is designed to manage rainwater runoff in an environmentally responsible manner, and was designed and constructed by UK faculty and students.  

Members of the UK Advising Network generally cannot participate in the university's annual FUSION day of service due to advising responsibilities during K Week, so the network came up with the idea of doing their own service day following the end of every school year.

The UK Advising Network is an affiliate of the National Academic Advising Association and is part of the UK Division of Undergraduate Education.

For more information about Bluegrass Greensource, visit www.bggreensource.org.