Penn State DuBois students establish a '21 days of sustainability' challenge

DuBOIS, Pa. — The Penn State DuBois business society has helped to raise sustainability awareness this year with their 21 Days of Sustainability Challenge. The challenge and Earth Day celebration were the brainchild of the sustainability committee within the business society, a student-run club on campus.

The 21-day challenge was designed to get students to pause and think about the effects they, as individuals, can have on the environment and their communities by doing one sustainable activity each day for 21 days straight.

Student Larissa James-LaBranche said, “The goal was to get each person to do one thing every day, whether that’s picking up litter they see, recycling something, donating clothing to Goodwill, or just researching ways to be more sustainable.”

Over 100 students signed up to participate in the challenge. Earth Day was celebrated with a closing event in collaboration with Soul Platter Café, a local community organization that provides a "pay-what-you-can" dining model.

David Rishell, director of the Soul Platter Café, talked to students about the collaboration that happens in the community to make the pay-what-you-can model work. They partner with the Salvation Army, the DuBois Food Pantry, the Reynoldsville Food Pantry, and Fayette Resources via Harvest Foods to create the weekly meals.

“In addition to the weekly menu we provide, we also have the little red food box, similar to a little library, outside of our facility where community members can take what they need,” said Rishell.

The Soul Platter Café brought in boxed lunches for the Earth Day celebration and joined the festivities to promote sustainability and community activism.

“We have been working on this event and challenge since September and hope to grow this event and include the entire campus, faculty and staff. We’re so happy with how well this has turned out,” said Alicia Bryan, a member of the sustainability committee.