DePauw students and members of the Greencastle community came together on Friday evening for DePauw Student Government's "Dine on the Square" event to enjoy a good meal and to raise money for Putnam County's United Way fund.
After selling 525 tickets and receiving donations from various members of the DePauw and Greencastle community, Student Government raised over $1,300 for the United Way, a humanitarian charity that supports 16 partner agencies throughout Putnam County.
Seniors Walker Chance and Olivia Flores, president and vice president of the DePauw student body, respectively, generated the idea of "Dine on the Square" in August in an effort to bring DePauw students closer to the Greencastle community.
"The idea behind [Dine on the Square] was to increase Greencastle and DePauw interactions, and to create more relationships between both the Greencastle community and the DePauw community," Chance said. "The idea behind it is that you can bring what the community is doing back to DePauw and bring what DePauw is doing to the community."
Sophomore Adam May, vice president of community relations, contacted Almost Home, Downtown Café, Putnam Inn and Chief's to provide dinner for the event, and the DePauw University Jazz Ensemble and a DePauw student band provided entertainment. Tickets for entry were five dollars, and half of the proceeds from the event will be going to the United Way fund as part of the United Monon fundraising competition between DePauw and Wabash College leading up to the Monon Bell Classic football game in November.
"We got a ton of positive feedback from community members," May said in an email on Sunday night. "It seems like they really appreciated DePauw showing a conscious effort to build a strong relationship with them."
Many members of the Greencastle community seemed pleased with the event because it provided an opportunity for DePauw students to gain some community perspective.
Paul and Margaret Champion have been living in Greencastle for six years, and they have loved witnessing the changes that have been made to create a stronger connection between DePauw students and the community, including the Dine on the Square event.
"It's wonderful to see so much community go into the [DePauw] events, plus DePauw students coming to community events," Margaret Champion said at the event on Friday. She cited events such as DePauw musical performances that Greencastle community members are able to attend and DePauw students coming into town for Eli's Bookstore and the farmer's market.
Paul Champion added that these events allow DePauw students and members of the community to interact as equals and to better understand each other.
"I think that there are times that some DePauw students give off something of an 'I'm entitled' feeling, and I think something like this really helps take that away," he said. "It's really good that you can raise money for a good cause and do something together with the campus."
Flores added that events such as "Dine on the Square" allow DePauw students to see what Greencastle can offer, and she hopes that DePauw students will continue to be involved in community events in the future.
"We have a mutual, beneficial relationship with the Greencastle community," Flores said. "It would be a huge disservice for us not to tap into the many resources that we all have together. I think right now we're underutilizing our community."