Throwing off Fear: In the Community
Allison Hess, Marketing & Communications
The following is one part of our Throwing off Fear feature article. Scroll to the bottom of this page for links to our other sections.
When frontline medical workers needed help, Waldo was quick to jump into action. His willing response kicked off Weber State’s participation in “Sew Your True Colors,” a statewide campaign to make and distribute 5 million face coverings.
Waldo’s work was representative of the many ways the Wildcat family offered a helping hand — or paw — to the community.
Knowing the critical need to provide timely support, WSU’s Online & Continuing Education program administrator and team of interns updated the guideemogden.org website, created during the government shutdown of 2018–2019, to direct individuals to community resources, including the Chamber of Commerce, Catholic Community Services and the United Way.
Adjunct economics professor Jennifer Gnagey provided an expert resource when she quickly produced and uploaded two how-to videos for the thousands of Utahns filing unemployment claims. Her class of labor economics students also volunteered to help individuals through the process.
In collaboration with Student Affairs Technology and most of the colleges across campus, Stewart Library loaned 92 laptops, 27 chrome books and 20 Wi-Fi hotspots so students could continue their spring and summer coursework. Grateful recipients expressed relief for the technology that enabled them to stay in school and keep learning.
Faculty members in the College of Engineering, Applied Science & Technology cannibalized labs of high-end computers and loaned them out for manufacturing, mechanical engineering and interior design students to run specialized design software.
The 3D lab director in the John B. Goddard School of Business & Economics, Jeff Clements, coordinated a campus-wide collaboration to print face shields. Clements, along with assistant professor of teacher education Ryan Cain, and two student volunteers, staggered their shifts and worked night and day. They used 3D printers across campus to print 300 face shields, which were donated to the Weber Morgan Health Department for distribution around the county.
Because students and faculty were working from home and clinical and lab rotations were canceled, the Dr. Ezekiel R. Dumke College of Health Professions was able to share its extra supplies. The college donated 15 ventilators, 1,000 masks, 200 fluid-resistant gowns, as well as hundreds of bottles of hand sanitizer, head covers, boxes of gloves and eye goggles to McKay-Dee Hospital, Midtown Community Health and the Ogden Clinic.
Weber State Athletics helped host a drive-through food drive in the Dee Events Center parking lot that collected 9,000 pounds of food for Catholic Community Services of Northern Utah and the Salvation Army.
For those who did not qualify, generous donors also supplemented CARES Act funding to help students who incurred expenses due to campus disruption during spring semester in amounts between $100 and $500.
Other sections of our Throwing off Fear feature: