More than 100 Wabash men went door-to-door, Thursday, Sept. 27 in Crawfordsville asking community members to donate whatever they could to assist MUFFY. MUFFY (Montgomery United Fund For You) is similar to United Way in that it raises funds for not-for-profit social service organizations in Montgomery County.
For the thirty-second consecutive year, the men of Wabash have partnered with the Montgomery United Fund to complete the residential drive portion of the campaign. "The students’ work has brought us closer to the wider Crawfordsville community," said Wabash College Professor Rick Warner who serves as the MUFFY Residential Drive Chair, "Their service has given light to our mission statement that speaks to ‘living humanely’."
Professor Warner explained a map of Crawfordsville is divided up and each group of two student volunteers gets a section of town to visit. After visiting all of the houses in their designated area, they brought the funds they collected to the home of Wabash President Dr. Patrick White and his wife Chris. There they enjoyed refreshments and shared stories of their visits with the Whites, Warner, MUFFY Executive Director David Johnson and other students while they kept a running tally of the total funds collected throughout the evening.
Since it came into existence in 1970, Montgomery United Fund has raised $9,000,000 through its annual fundraising campaigns. It raised $520,000 last year and hopes to raise $565,000 through this year’s efforts. Johnson explained that the residential drive typically raises between $8,000 and $10,000 annually. During the first night of the residential drive last week, the student volunteers collected over $3,500.
"The partnership between Wabash College and Montgomery United Fund is a significant one for our community. Typically one would not expect the students to be as vested in the community where they ‘just go to school’," said Johnson. "However, at Wabash they have demonstrated by their willingness to volunteer and participate in the campaign themselves, the importance for all of us to make our community better – regardless of where we are in our lives, be it geographically or otherwise."
Last year Montgomery United Fund funds served approximately 25,000 people in Montgomery County through the efforts of 18 social service organizations. To see a list of agencies supported by last year’s MUFFY campaign, visit www.muffy.org. For information on the campaign at Wabash College contact Professor Rick Warner or Cathy Metz.