Miner alumni are a generous bunch. You share your time and treasure with all types of organizations that serve others in many ways. Many of you give back to your alma mater. We asked what inspires you to give, and here is what you told us:

The Boy Scouts of America is where a majority of my charitable time and money goes. I am a committee member and Life-to-Eagle Coordinator (I assist scouts with the work entailed to earn Eagle Scout) for a troop and a member of the Campmaster Corps (a group that assists troops with off-season camping at council camps). As an adult leader you always end up doing things outside the purview of your title and being a jack of all trades! After starting in Cub Scouts and going all the way to Eagle Scout I cannot think of anything else I would do!

Drew Hayes, ArchE’11
Blue Springs, Mo.

I am president of the board of directors of Sweetwater Mission, a charity that provides food, clothing, financial aid and educational opportunities to those in need in the south Cobb County, Georgia, area (a suburb of Atlanta). Our organization distributed over 1 million pounds of food in 2014. I also lead a church group that provides basic maintenance support to the Sweetwater Mission building.

David J. Beem, Chem’75
Alpharetta, Ga.

When I retired from Eastman Chemical Co. in 2012, the pastor asked me to organize and be president of our parish conference of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, the international benevolent organization. I used my engineering experience to organize the group, including the required record-keeping. During the past three years I have come to understand poverty in a completely different way. It is a complicated issue that can’t be fixed by “just working hard.” We are working on many initiatives to bring about systemic change to go beyond short-term financial help and provide permanent improvement in peoples’ standards of living. I have continued to be involved with the pro-life ministry, and volunteer for the church maintenance committee and an annual teen ACTS retreat team. My wife, Jan, and I are members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, which provides financial support for the historic Christian sites and schools in the Holy Land.

Tom Mittler, CE’75
Longview, Texas

I give to Unity Church, the Missouri S&T Scholarship Fund, and Poplar Grove Vintage Wings and Wheels Museum Scholarship Fund.

The museum has a 12-acre campus. All buildings are pre-World War II and house bicycles, cars, trucks and planes from 1941 or older. Our mission is to preserve these antiquities and foster interest in our youth for aviation and automobiles.

May through October, we have monthly fundraising pancake breakfasts and give free plane rides to kids ages 8–17. We give scholarships toward aviation and automotive degrees or certificates.

Oh, by the way, I live here in the airport community — so I am able to live my volunteering passion.

Bill Moses, ME’59
Poplar Grove, Ill.

An avid cycler, I ride in the annual 160-mile Tour de Cure to raise awareness and funds to support the American Diabetes Association. I have been involved with the North Carolina Tour de Cure since 2010, and in six years I’ve raised over $17,000 as an individual and over $22,000 as captain of the Oldcastle/Wheels of Stone team. I dedicated my first 80-mile ride to my mother and brother, who both live with diabetes. After being a successful participant and fundraiser, I was invited to serve on the logistics committee and in 2013, Oldcastle honored me as an Outstanding Community Ambassador.

Frank Werner, EMgt’80
Raleigh, N.C.

My wife and I spent five months in a rural Ugandan school where I taught fourth-grade science and my wife taught English. We also helped fund the school session in this very poor area.

In 2014, we spent four months in coastal Ecuador with the non-governmental organization Water Ecuador building water purification plants and testing water quality and water usage in six villages.

We spent six months in 2015 in The Cloud Forest School in Costa Rica. We gave money for school operations and I helped organize a 10k race though the forest trails, as well as general school campus ground work and environmental education classes for grades 1 to 11. My wife taught and assisted in numerous classes and organized the library for student use.

In November, we left for central Mexico to work again with the NGO Water Ecuador on a three-month water quality and water usage project.

The adventures have been and continue to be “an experience.”

Terry E. Durham, GGph’70
New Haven, Conn.