Campus Life : Eye on OU

Silver Wings serves separate from Air Force

By Megan Helgeson, writer
   
May 13, 2008 | 3 p.m.

The Ohio University Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) program is associated with uniforms, training and planes. Yet while the community service organization Silver Wings is linked to the AFROTC, it has no connection to these traits.

Silver Wings is a “nonprofit organization dedicated to developing leadership skills and providing service to the community,” said OU senior Calaina Goodyear, the Silver Wings president. The group works with the Arnold Air Society (AAS), AFROTC’s service organization.

Silver Wings is only the civilian part of the AAS. “We are not in the Air Force,” Goodyear said. “We don’t do training.”

What Silver Wings does do is fundraising and service “from the county to national level,” Goodyear said.

The group attempts to plan an event every other week. Members held a bake sale on Thursday, May 8 in front of the Athens County Courthouse. They will be hosting a date auction at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 28 in Baker University Center's Front Room.

Silver Wings is working with the Beta Theta Pi fraternity on the date auction to raise money for Passion Works, a studio that “supports collaborations between artists with and without developmental disabilities,” according to the organization’s Web site.

“Production of these pieces creates employment for people with and without disabilities and generates a renewable funding stream to continue arts programming," according to the Web site. 

Silver Wings is facing difficulty with its community service projects, however, because of its lack of members. The organization, which began last year, has only eight members.

“Right now, our main focus is fundraising, so we can advertise for more people to join,” Goodyear said.

The advantages of a larger membership would increase the benefits going to the organizations that Silver Wings is helping, Goodyear said.

OU senior Phillip Green is a member who recently joined Silver Wings. “It’s not much demand,” Green said. “It won’t take up your whole life.”

Another benefit of joining Silver Wings is the organization’s reputation. “It is a good resume builder, more so with [the] government contacts,” Goodyear said.

Silver Wings meets at 8 p.m. Mondays in Lindley Hall, room 221. Anyone is welcome to join in serving the community. No military commitments are required.

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