Campus gearing up for One Day, One Dog Day of Giving and Service

One week from today, the University community will come together yet again to give, serve and celebrate. The 10th anniversary of the One Day, One Dog Day of Giving and Service is March 19.

Participants will have 26 service projects to choose from, starting at 6:30 a.m. with "Care for the Caregivers" at Atrium Union hospital in Monroe and ending around 4 p.m. on McGee Promenade with Greek Life raising money for the Community Shelter of Union County.

Other service projects on offer include serving breakfast at the Community Shelter in Monroe, helping and cheering on clients with intellectual and developmental disabilities during the Union Diversified Industries baseball game, and the Lake Love Cleanup at Campus Lake.

New offerings include creating origami art to be delivered to children's hospitals and nursing homes, and assembling trauma kits for first responders to provide to children during service calls.

It's a long day of service but a joyful one. It's also important as an exercise in loving one's neighbor, says Keyua McElveen, a 2017 Wingate graduate and director of co-curricular and community experience.

"It's a day that you shut off your mind from all the things that you're doing, and you're able to be selfless and give back to somebody else," she says. "I want to give our students practical experience, put to the test what they're learning theoretically in the classroom in real life, and then I want them to take that practical experience and figure out how their purpose aligns with it. The only way they will be able to do that, though, is by being exposed to being selfless."

Kasey Eastland, a 2022 Wingate graduate, remembers the exhilaration she felt as a student on One Day, One Dog filling sacks of potatoes with her volleyball teammates and planting flowers with her earth science classmates.

"I definitely felt like we were doing something good for the community, and being able to do it with my friends was incredible," she says.

Now, as director of annual campaigns and advancement communications, Eastland works to get students to understand that One Day, One Dog is not only a day of service but a day of giving - and why the giving part is so important.

Eastland admits that as a student she didn't even know there was a giving aspect to One Day, One Dog. That's one reason she instituted Woof Day, a student-philanthropy event that happens the day before One Day, One Dog every year.

During this year's Woof Day, students can attend a Lyceum where they will learn what philanthropy is and why it's important to give back once they are alumni. Students can even simulate establishing their own scholarship, "just to get them thinking about that and letting them know that most scholarships on campus are funded by donors," she says.

The University's fundraising goal during this year's One Day, One Dog is $700,000, which Eastland believes is reachable, especially considering how incrementally generous the University's supporters have been over the years. In the early days of One Day, One Dog, the goal often barely reached six figures. Last year, more than 1,200 people donated to their campus area of choice, to the tune of more than $515,000.

So far, Wingate has $150,000 pledged as challenge gifts.

Even though One Day, One Dog is not for another week, there's no need to wait. You can give now. Students are encouraged to sign up for service projects via the Corq app.

March 12, 2026