Northern Michigan University students delivered 60 care packs intended for guests of Room at the Inn, Marquette's emergency homeless shelter and warming center. The packs included gloves, hats, socks, reusable water bottles, toiletries and snacks.

“Some of us attended the Michigan Campus Compact [MCC] student leadership conference last fall,” said Sara Pingel of the NMU Center for Student Enrichment. “The MCC was awarding grants for projects that would meet a community need. We worked with students from Lake Superior State University and decided to focus on homelessness. Our idea of putting together care packs that could be distributed to homeless individuals in both communities won MCC’s top grant of $2,500.” 

Pingel said NMU purchased the products and students from both universities assembled 120 packs at the close of the recent U.P. Summit, a similar student leadership conference held for the first time at NMU. Northern students brought half to Room at the Inn. LSSU students planned to deliver their half to the Salvation Army.