Liz Hornyak: On today’s episode, Swoop's Food Pantry introduces a new set of guidelines due to COVID-19 and the university has created a grant to help students pay for online classes. We also have updates on the housing credit for residential students. I‘m your host Liz Hornyak and this is the Eastern Echo Podcast.
On April 9, President Smith informed the students of the passing of beloved faculty member Mrs. Marilyn Horace-Moore. Mrs. Horace-Moore was an instructor and advisor for the Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology departments and has been a professor at EMU since 1994. Prior to becoming a lecturer and advisor in the department, Mrs. Horace-Moore was a police officer with the City of Ypsilanti Police Department. She retired as a police lieutenant in 1994. She is survived by her husband, two children and eleven grandchildren. The university will share memorial details as they become available.
On Thursday, April 9, Governor Whitmer announced that the stay-at-home order will be extended through April 30 in order to slow the spread of COVID-19. The order requires Michigan residents to only leave their homes for essential needs like groceries and prescriptions. As of Saturday morning, there have been 689 confirmed cases of the virus among Washtenaw County residents, with 18 deaths and 162 recoveries.
In other news, Swoop’s Food Pantry has new guidelines that they want their customers to follow due to the pandemic. From now on, customers need to submit a shopping request prior to going to the pantry. New customers are being asked to fill out an intake form. If you want to make a donation to Swoop’s, you can email swoops_pantry@emich.edu. The items in highest demand right now include:
Bread
Pasta sauce
Ketchup and other condiments
Garbanzo beans
Large snack food items
Size 6 diapers
Toilet paper
Self care items such as lotions, bubble bath, etc.
Creative items such as journals, crayons, markers, etc.
These guidelines became effective April 8. For more information, visit www.emich.edu/swoopspantry.
After extending the online class format through the summer semester, many students grew concerned with the $240 fee that EMU normally includes for any online class. In response, the university has created a grant called EMU CARES to help students pay for Summer 2020 online classes. With this grant, students will receive $500 if they take three credits for the summer semester, and if a student takes six credits, they will receive $1,000. The appropriate credit will be applied to their E-bill. Current, transfer and guest students are all eligible to apply.
On April 8, students who lived on campus and followed check-out procedures by March 31, should have received an email discussing the options that they have to apply the housing credit to their E-bill accounts. The first option will give students an $814 credit towards their bill for the current semester. The second option allows the student to receive a $1,314 credit that will be applied to the fall semester and this option also gives students an additional $500. Students have until April 24 to make their decision.
That’s all for news. Today’s music is a song called “Greener” from Ann Arbor-based band Chirp. You can learn more about their group on their website at www.chirpband.com. If you’re an artist with Washtenaw County roots and you’d like to hear your own music on our show, please reach out to us at podcast@easternecho.com. We’ll be back next week with your updated news brief. This is Liz Hornyak, signing off.
Host: Liz Hornyak
Script: Jasmine Boyd
Producer: Lauren Smith
Music: "Greener" by Chirp
