Seth Ramey, Professor Michael Gundlach, and Dustin Boettcher. Not pictured: Charlene Wall and Tyler Giovanetti.

Business Management Students Plan Help for Torres Shelter

Four students in Michael Gundlach’s Survey of Management course have taken on the plight of the Torres Community Shelter and hope to make a difference through their service-learning project. The Chico Community Shelter Partnership, the nonprofit that runs the facility, was recently not awarded a $200,000 two-year grant it has relied on. The money represents about 40 percent of the homeless shelter’s budget.

Juniors Seth Ramey and Tyler Giovanetti and seniors Dustin Boettcher and Charlene Wall are collaborating on a semester-long project to collect donations in the form of goods and money for the Torres Shelter. The team didn’t know about the financial crisis when they began the project; they chose it because Ramey had volunteered with his grandfather serving meals. The shelter has always relied on community donations, but now that it is in such dire financial straits, the team’s efforts are even more significant.

Professors Gundlach and Suzanne Zivnuska teach different sections of the same Survey of Management course, and together, they developed the experiential-learning management project as part of the course. The project is graded, and one requirement is that it have a positive social or environmental impact.

The semester-long projects give students hands-on experience with leadership, decision-making, planning, and executing a project from start to finish. “It is nice to be able to work with a group and actually see a project like this through,” said Ramey.

The group first went out to distribute fliers and collect goods two weekends ago. Along the way, they knocked on Sue Anderson’s door. “Our students are at it again—doing great things for our community,” said Anderson, director Alumni and Parent Relations. “They went door-to-door in my neighborhood, leaving tags on doors and asking for donations of food, cleaning supplies, and personal toiletries for the Torres Shelter. What a wonderful thing to do for the less fortunate.”

If you would like to donate to the students’ project for the Torres Shelter, there is a collection bin in the Department of Management office in Tehama 305. If you have questions, you can call Ramey at 530-520-8318 or Professor Gundlach at x4827.

—Kathleen McPartland, Public Affairs and Publications