By Darryl Geddes
Bedspreads and draperies from Cornell's Statler Hotel have been donated to Ithaca-area human service agencies.
The donation was initiated by Betsy Stevens, assistant professor of managerial communication in the School of Hotel Administration. Stevens presented her idea to Statler Hotel general manager James Hisle after she learned that the hotel was replacing draperies and bedspreads in its guestrooms. Hisle agreed to donate 40 bedspreads, draperies and the hardware to hang the window treatments to Homes Inc. and to the Economic Opportunity Corp. (EOC) for use in their residential facilities. The delivery of the hotel goods was made from May 15 to May 20.
The donation is part of a community service project undertaken by students in Stevens' class Organizational Communication for Managers.
"We set out to help out the Red Cross this semester with a survey of its communication efforts and ended up assisting them and other agencies on a variety of fronts," Stevens said.
This semester, the class conducted a student survey for the Tompkins County Chapter of the American Red Cross to assess the Cornell community's understanding of the agency's activities. In addition the class helped update the computer capabilities of the Red Cross and collected kitchenware and other household items from students for distribution to area human service agencies.