*This story is part of our 2010-11 Mizzou in Review series.*

The beginning of the 2010-2011 tenure for Sustain Mizzou’s executive members can be best described with a phone call.

“I remember pacing around my apartment over the summer talking on the phone with Kelly (Gehringer) because she had told me she wanted to do a benefit concert for something…” former Sustain Mizzou president Tina Casagrand said. “And we’re like it should probably be the oil spill…we wanted to provide a way for people that would be really fun, but…also get involved and support relief efforts.”

The “Gulf Sounds” benefit concert raised $1,382 for relief efforts around the gulf coast and brought in more than 100 people.

Former Sustain Mizzou spokesperson Kelly Gehringer described the new member orientation as an astonishing realization of the number of MU students interested in sustainability.

“I had the idea to make membership more personal to make name tags for people out of construction paper, making them personalized and putting yarn through them,” Gehringer said. “I just remember being like ‘alright, I’m out of yarn…and paper.’ So it sucked, but it was a really good sign because it was like ‘wow, we have that many people here.’”

Former Vice President of Programming Monica Everett said she fondly remembers The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education conference where she and Gehringer did a presentation about the food drive.

“Kelly was dressed as an apple, and I dressed as a farmer,” Everett said. “And we brought spirit of Mizzou – Sustain Mizzou.”

From the Local Food for Local People drive at MU Sustain Mizzou raised $705 and was able to donate more than 300 dozen eggs, at least 1,000 pounds of produce to the Central Missouri Food Bank and cook two meals for the St. Francis House.

Another major event this year for the executive board was the Clinton Global Initiative University, in which the executives presented the Sustainahouse project, an effort to create a highly sustainable living environment for a select group of students. Casagrand, Everett and former secretary Kat Seal attended the conference in San Diego over spring break and were able to meet global leaders like Sean Penn and saw celebrities like Mandy Moore and Drew Barrymore.

“The Sustainahouse project is so cool because it’s practical, and energy waste and buildings have such an impact on the environment right now,” Casagrand said. “The way we’re approaching it is by doing the dedicated research on what works and what’s cost-effective and that really sets it apart as a project.”

Everett said six people move into the Sustainahouse on July 28.

“I think the idea is that Sustainahouse will expand to provide an outlet for a sustainable-living community in Columbia, so that people will know how to live sustainably and use us as a model to spread that,” Everett said.

Although Sustain Mizzou focuses on connecting as a group and with the community, executive board members said their experience as a member of the group has had a profound effect on themselves.

Gehringer said Sustain Mizzou has highlighted volunteerism in her life and has made her a more avid volunteer.

“Like, if someone else is really interested in recycling, or some other project, and I’m not really interested in it, it doesn’t matter,” Gehringer said. “If it’s one aspect of sustainability that I don’t necessarily hone in on, but someone else does, I’ll recognize ‘well they really value that and they need help with that,’ so then I want to step in and help.”

Casagrand said she has absorbed Sustain Mizzou’s philosophy and tries to carry it out in her life by being optimistic and making change happen.

“We are some of the biggest change agents on campus and you have to be dedicated to that and make sure things get followed through,” Casagrand said. “Like if you want to see it happen, it’s up to you.”

Everett said she is proud of Sustain Mizzou’s collaborative efforts this past year and hopes the new executive board continues with this.

“We worked closely with Student Sustainability and the Sustainability Office, but we also started to branch out more to new partners in the Columbia community and on campus…” Everett said. “Sustainability can be integrated into every aspect of society, so it makes sense to partner with as many people and groups as possible.”

On the topic of Sustain Mizzou projects, Casagrand voiced her pride in Tiger Tailgate Recycling, one of the organization’s oldest projects, where members hand out recycling bags to fans tailgating and briefly educate them about recycling, then collect the bags.

“It’s just a grimy job, but we turn out like 20 volunteers each time and we collected 18.6 tons of material over the whole season,” Casagrand said.

Everett said Stream Team is another good project because it actually gets people off campus. Thirty-three volunteers contributed 65 hours and collected 60 bags of trash and 14 tires.

“We’re all here because we care about the environment and it actually gets you into the environment,” Everett said.

Casagrand said Sustain Mizzou tries to provide as many opportunities as possible to make sure there’s something for everyone.

“I’m very sort of humbled to have been at the front of something that can connect so many people to the environment and to just volunteerism and leadership development,” Casagrand said.