The Strong, The Brave, The Green

This is Joyce. I ran into her just after 6am at Merry Ann's Diner on Neil St., sitting with her husband, drinking coffee and stocking up on energy for the sale. They were both, of course, decked out in bright green t-shirts, the signature, blinding color of the Dump & Run Community Garage Sale. (Joyce was even wearing the cutest little Y earrings...)

In this moment, before the sale even began, I noted the dedication and spirit of our brand of volunteers.

Tireless (so long as we provide some refreshments).

Strong (especially our third floor residents who always help carry sofas around).

Brave (once the Stock Pavilion dust gets flying, it can be a madhouse in there between the hours of 7 and 10am).

Loyal (our boutique volunteers have been drawing a hard line on the most elegant items for the past few years, without fail).

Dedicated (enough to wear the new pink "Ask Me" shirts that made the most knowledgeable of them distinctive).

Hospitable (opening doors to international students who are just getting started at the university and need to be solidly welcomed).

Green (doing their very best to keep things cheap, to the point of significant bargaining, so that we can keep whatever possible out of dumpsters and get it into the hands of people who will use it).\

and dare I say... Good-looking?

More information forthcoming, but the most important task we have now, at the end of two very long days, is to thank the volunteers who made it possible.

Here's a slideshow of photos from this year's sale. You can download photo at full resolution or order prints from the Flickr set here.

'Waveland' Captures the Ground Zero of Hurricane Katrina and the BP Oil Spill

Exhibition Opening

Friday, October 14, 7:00-9:00 pm

Valerie Oliveiro, Artist - www.valerieoliveiro.com

Ambient, avant world music by Jason Finkelmann
Artist talk at 8:00, focus performance following
Murphy Gallery @ the Y

Free and open to the public.

Preview the photographs on Valerie Oliveiro's website: valerieoliveiro.com

Waveland, Mississippi was actual ground zero for Hurricane Katrina. It was the worst hit beach on the Mississippi gulf coast from the BP oil spill. Historically, natural and human forces have tried to claim it. This exhibition presents Valerie Oliviero's landscape photographs, part of her continuing study of transition and intervention in space.

Oliveiro is Singapore-born, self taught photographer. She is now the resident photographer at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, and before that she was a freelance Production Manager and Stage Manager for 14 years. She received an MFA (Yale School of Drama) in Stage Management and has worked with international artists in performing arts venues and festivals all around the world. Her photos have appeared in the New York Times, American Theatre Magazine and Time Out.

This exhibition will be open at the University YMCA from October 14 - December 23, 2011 (Monday through Friday, 9:00am - 5:00pm each day). Free and open to the public.

For more information: www.universityymca.org/art

University YMCA, 1001 South Wright Street, Champaign

Exhibition sponsored by: Art @ the Y, an initiative of the University YMCA.

Contact: Ann Rasmus, ann@universityymca.org, 217-337-1500

Native Plants Growing Strong After Volunteer Work Day

The rainy days last week may have seemed dreary, but here at the Y we couldn't have been happier! The ground was soaked each day - just the thing for our baby native grasses and perennials at the Y's west side parking lot! They're sure to grow big and strong thanks to our student volunteers.

Students from SECS and Red Bison.
Photos available on Flickr for download.

On September 25, 2011, volunteers from Students for Environmental ConcernS and Red Bison spend several hours at the University YMCA. They planted over 300 native plugs from the Grand Prairie Friends along the West Side parking lot.

Student volunteer digs in native plant plugs.
Photos available on Flickr for download.

These tall grasses, wild onions, and flowering perennials will be wild and beautiful in a year or two. Refer to the last post, "It's going to be WILD..." for details about the planting plan and list of plants used.

The student volunteers from SECS and Red Bison also powered through some much needed property maintenance. They moved load after load of gravelly soil along the edge of the building to prevent water from seeping down.

When the planting was done, volunteers transitioned into pruning and weeding the front side of the building and the native shaded beds along Chalmers.

The Y is grateful for their expert handling of the native plants, overgrown shrubs, and wheelbarrows full of dirt!

Without our student groups, the Y's exterior couldn't be nearly as environmentally friendly, well-maintained, and welcoming.

Special thanks to SECS, Red Bison, and Grand Prairie Friends for their help. Extra thanks to Valerie Sivicek for her leadership and plant knowledge.

It's going to be WILD (the parking lot, that is...)

Environmental responsibility is part of the Y's mission, and in just a few weeks it will be part of the parking lot too!

Valerie Sivicek designed the native planting plant and Jenni Kotting rendered into diagrams and sections as seen above.

With the help of environmental student groups, Red Bison and SECS, the University YMCA is about to plant a native border along the west side of their parking lot! The long 3-feet-wide strip was formerly an unsightly gravel and weed mixture while the building was under construction. Volunteers will plant the entire area with a mixture of flowering perennials and grasses that can thrive even in poor soil and dry conditions.

The native grasses will offer texture and height against the fence while shorter plants will hug the asphalt closest to the parked cars. Plants include:

• Allium cernuum, Nodding Wild Onion
• Bouteloua curtipendula, Side Oats Grama
• Heliopsis helianthoides, False Sunflower
• Liatris pycnostachya, Blazing Star
• Penstemon digitalis, Foxglove Beardtongue
• Schizachyrium scoparium, Little Bluestem
• Silphium terebinthiniaceum, Prairie Dock
• Sorghastrum nutans, Indian Grass
• Sporobolus heterolepis, Prairie Dropseed

Stay tuned for photos of the planting!

Newest Art @ the Y Exhibit!

Off-the-Grid Art Opens at the University YMCA:

Denny Anderson’s ‘The Treehouse: Recycled, Repurposed, Reimagined’

See more photos in our Flickr Photoset.

Exhibition Opening

Monday, August 25, 5:00-7:00pm

Presentation by Denny Anderson at 5:30pm

Murphy Gallery @ the Y

Designer, builder and Scoutmaster, Denny Anderson has created a living laboratory of green construction and technology for the Boy Scouts of Camp Drake. His treehouse cabin is built from cast off, donated, reused or repurposed materials and is powered by a passive solar system with a bicycle back-up.

The triangular cabin is built at the edge of a ravine with one of the three cantilevering points touching ground level to provide wheelchair access. Fifteen bunk beds, a loft, food prep and storage spaces provide a compact functional space. Area Boy Scouts will soon be learning about more than knots, tents and campfire building.

This exhibition will be open at the University YMCA from August 19th through early October. Images, blueprints, and materials on display guide visitors through the design and construction of the completely off-the-grid sustainable project that will help to school a new generation of environmentally aware, active and competent young people.

For more information: www.universityymca.org/art

University YMCA, 1001 South Wright Street, Champaign

Exhibition sponsored by: Art @ the Y, an initiative of the University YMCA.

Contact: Ann Rasmus, ann@universityymca.org, 217-337-1500