College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Alumni & Friends

Over the last three months, we have seen the world change and Spartans across the globe come together to support each other. On May 5, 2020, Michigan State University took part in #GivingTuesdayNow, a global day of giving and unity that took place as an emergency response to the unprecedented need caused by COVID-19.

#GivingTuesdayNow provided Spartans from 37 states and 5 international locations a chance to make a positive difference in the lives of MSU students and the MSU community. A total of $76,522 was raised university-wide for more than 20 MSU programs, including but not limited to these College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR) funds:

• CANR Student Emergency Fund: $10,630
• MSU’s Kellogg Bird Sanctuary: $2,855
• Michigan 4-H Mask Project:$1,060
• The MSU Extension Food Processing Innovation Center (FPIC): $970

CANR Student Emergency Fund

Thanks to the generous support from the CANR community, $10,630 was raised during #GivingTuesdayNow for the CANR Student Emergency Fund. An additional $1,200 has been donated over the past month, bringing our total to $11,830.

Created in 2002, our college’s (Mazurek) emergency student assistance fund was established by Raymond S. Mazurek, class of 1959, who understood that students fall upon hard times and do not always have a support system for help. During a particularly rough time for Ray, one of his professors went the extra mile to help find financial resources, which allowed him to finish his degree. He vowed to pay it forward and started supporting this fund on an annual basis, and his family and friends have continued to support the fund since his passing.

For nearly twenty years, this fund has been extremely beneficial in assisting our students with critical needs like, housing and food insecurity, medical care, academic supplies and required technology resources. If you are interested in supporting our students, please visit: https://givingto.msu.edu/crowdpower/canr-emergency-student-assistance.

MSU’s Kellogg Bird Sanctuary

As the nation wades through an unprecedented ocean of daily COVID-19 news and social distancing guidelines, animal keepers around the country continue caring for their animals and the staff at the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary is no exception. Our animal care staff is on site every day to make sure the birds have what they need, whether during a severe snowstorm or a global pandemic.

With events, programs and our popular field trips canceled, the Sanctuary anticipates a loss of $40,000 of income. This is the income that purchases food, supplies and medication to care for our birds. Each month, it costs $300 to feed just the birds of prey. Gifts help sustain the Sanctuary and care for the birds during these uncertain times.

Michigan 4-H Mask Project

Michigan 4-H youth and families are sewing homemade cloth face coverings and donating them to protect the public, essential workers and members of the healthcare workforce. By May, Michigan 4-H youth and families donated more than 5,000 cloth face coverings to more 25 different organizations in the Michigan 4-H Mask Project. These cloth face coverings were created in more than 32 counties.

Donor support helps to procure the fabric and elastic necessary to make the cloth face coverings, as well as funding to support staff expenses related to distributing the newly made cloth face coverings to those in need and sending supplies to volunteer mask-makers across the state.

MSU Extension Food Processing Innovation Center PPE Decontamination

COVID-19, the disease caused by novel coronavirus, has overloaded hospitals and created an increased need for personal protection equipment (PPE), such as N95 masks, face shields, gloves, aprons and disposable lab coats. As these shortages loom the ability to reuse these materials and develop more becomes increasingly more valuable.

The MSU Extension Food Processing Innovation Center (FPIC), a project of the MSU Product Center, is beginning to develop protocols that can be used to decontaminate PPE using their food production capabilities. The FPIC is a multi-functional processing plant that gives food manufacturers an opportunity to test small-scale runs of new products before retooling larger plants.

On April 1, 2020 FPIC began using their Marlen Spiral Oven to decontaminate N95 masks. After being labelled by healthcare workers, masks are transported to FPIC where they are baked in the oven. They are then sealed in individual bags and left to further decontaminate for three days before being returned to the original user.