Krystal NurseLansing State Journal
EAST LANSING — With Michigan State University anticipating students returning to campus ahead of the resumption of classes, a team of 20 people set about creating a welcoming atmosphere for them to experience Sunday — an effort that ballooned into a university-sponsored gesture attracting thousands to Michigan State University.
"We have so many volunteers here that we don't have any more tasks for them," student volunteer Meredith Friend said. "We're just saying to them, 'Be a smiling face.'"
Students, alumni and Greater Lansing residents were on campus introducing friendly dogs, collecting trash, handing out personalized cards, toiletries and pounds of food in an effort to spread positivity in the wake of a mass shooting Feb. 13 that claimed the lives of three students and left five others severely wounded.
Thousands of students left campus in the wake of the shooting as the school canceled classes for the week. The school plans to resume in-person classes Monday.
Spartan Sunday grows:MSU students organize Spartan Sunday campus event to support return of grieving classmates
MSU graduate student Emily Damman said on Saturday that her phone has had a "crazy amount" of notifications, but she loved the response ahead of Sunday's effort. She began organizing the event with her friends who are all graduate students at the university.
Neither she nor her friends expected Michigan State join as a sponsor for the event and welcomed the school's support with open arms.
"We have thousands of people interested," she said. "So far our Spartan signup is at 900-plus and we’re assuming that of families signed up then only one person signed up. The outpouring (of support) is amazing!"
Volunteers Sunday wore T-shirts with "Spartan Strong" and "Bringing the love back to campus" as they lined up along Red Cedar Road.
Olivia Wiegers, who helped Damman organize the event, said the event was a display of people wanting to collaborate on a single day to spread happiness.
Volunteer Darien Harris signed up after Damman contacted him on Twitter and he helped get the university's athletic department, where he works, involved.
"Spartan Strong is not just something that we're saying just to say in these times. It's going to ring for the rest of our lifetimes," said volunteer Lionel Rice, who also works in the university's athletic department.
Harris was surprised at how many people showed up to help.
"Spartan Sunday is not just something that we're going to toss together just to do," he said. It's something that's truly meaningful and it's bringing people out into the community to be able to meet people that they may not get a chance to meet on another day."
Friend added it's been overwhelming "in the best way possible" to have people and businesses donate items to support students.
Megan Swirczek said a woman pulled up with flowers in her car and someone asked if she needed help with the flowers. Swirczek said about 20 people turned around and swarmed the car to help.
In addition to welcoming students back after the traumatic week, it also was an opportunity to draw out students who stayed on campus or nearby in East Lansing, Damman said.
Among those students were freshmen Konrad Liberda and Noah Zemba who didn't leave campus after the shooting. They walked to Red Cedar Road from their dorms for Spartan Sunday and said the donations from people have helped them.
People handed the two reusable shopping bags and placed flowers, toiletries, laundry detergent and other items inside. Zembe was appreciative of the efforts because he was unable to get to a store this week.
"I've seen so many people with constant support, especially with all their dogs," he said. "Never gonna see enough dogs on campus."
While numerous volunteers were sharing smiles and various gifts, members of the Michigan Corgi Club Facebook group and their dogs were offering a different welcome.
Haslett resident Nick Reynolds brought his corgi, Otto, because of the Facebook event and wanted to bring happiness to his alma mater.
"I hope it brings smiles to people's faces, it's been a hard week," he said about dog owners walking along the Red Cedar River to give students comfort.
Many people stopped in their tracks to enjoy the dogs, take selfies and pet the friendly animals. Despite Michigan State urging people to only bring therapy dogs on campus, the sounds of dogs barking filled the air just outside of Spartan Stadium.
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Contact reporter Krystal Nurse at 517-267-1344 or knurse@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @KrystalRNurse.
