Our Sister Recycler in the News!

Greetings,

Our Sister Matthew was highlighted in the local newspaper last Tuesday! Her decades-long service to Mount Marty College through beautiful grounds and flowerbeds has long emphasized recycling and caring for all God's creation.  This selfless service reminds her sisters of chapter 31 in the Rule of Benedict, 

"She will regard all utensils and goods of the monastery as sacred vessels of the altar, aware that nothings is to be neglected. She should not be prone to greed, nor be wasteful and extravagant with the goods of the monastery, but should do everything with moderation and according to the prioress' orders.Above all, let her be humble...if the community is rather large, she should be given helpers, that  with their assistance she may calmly perform the duties of her office" (RB 31: 10-17).

"MMC's Recycling Champ Gets Some Help",
by Shauna Marlette, Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan

Sister Matthew Wehri has always made sure Mount Marty College (MMC) has been ahead of the curve when it comes to recycling.

Now, thanks to a grant from Keep America Beautiful (KAB) and the Coca-Cola Foundation, she is going to get a little help from the students who returned to the Yankton campus on Monday.

This past year MMC applied for and received the national recycling bin grant, where the school was awarded 40 bins designed specifically for placement around campus.

“I think it was 1976 when I started collecting the cans on campus,” Wehri said. “A long-time nun in the Monastery was working in the kitchens and she told me that we could get $0.16 a pound recycling cans. So, I began going around campus, digging in the dumpsters and collecting cans.”

Wehri said that she decided to collect the cans to help fund maintenance of the campus’ flower beds. She added that a small amount has also gone to helping pay for the monastery’s past dog’s food, treats and care.

“Every morning, afternoon and evening - three times a day - I go out and separate the bags, collecting cans,” she said. “Maybe we don’t collect as much during the summer, but definitely when school is in session.”

Noting that in a typical month she will collect between 60-70 pounds of cans, Wehri said they collect enough to overflow the back of a pickup every month.

“Some of the kids-but not many - are good about separating out their cans and leaving them in bags next to the dumpsters, “she said. “Not a lot of them do it though. I would say 75 percent of the cans collected, I have separated out of the trash.”

The college hopes to help lower that number.

“We were looking for a way to be more environmentally friendly and at the same time we wanted to start a good recycling program at the college,” said Greg Heine, the chief operations officer for MMC. “Sister Wehri has been the watch-dog for recycling on campus, sorting garbage to get the cans out. Now we hope we can help her out.”

At Mount Marty College, a plan will be implemented that not only focuses on the daily act of recycling, but will also include education outreach by Keep Yankton Beautiful.

 “We will be working with work our work study program to help provide assistance to Sister Matthew with the collecting,” Heine said. “The education aspect will be all student-driven.”

In thanks for her years of service to the campus, Heine noted that the college had placed a label on each of the new bins that has a photo of Sister Matthew asking the students to help her recycle and keep the campus clean.

“It is just one way we can honor her for her years of service to the campus,” he said. “She enjoys the landscaping and working with the flowers but would never take money to do it. By recycling she is able to fund the projects and every penny she had made recycling has gone back to the campus.”

Wehri said she knows that the students sometimes look at her funny when she is digging in the garbage, but that she hopes they understand why she is doing it and, in the future, will help by recycling their cans into the appropriate bins.

“Almost all of the bins have been installed before the students returned this week,” Heine said. “With the education that is planned because of this award, and the ongoing awareness this will create we are optimistic our efforts to increase recycling campus-wide will be successful."