LSU Tiger Business Services Class Project Wins Award

10/07/2010

BATON ROUGE – The LSU Tiger Business Services class, in collaboration with HOPE Ministries, the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank and The Arc Baton Rouge, will receive The Arc of Louisiana 2010 Special Recognition Award for its Raised Bed Garden “Green” Entrepreneurship Venture. The award will be presented Oct. 8 at The Arc of Louisiana Award Banquet in Shreveport.

Although the concept, an effort to create new job opportunities for people with developmental disabilities, was germinated by The Arc Baton Rouge, it required a sound business plan that was designed by the LSU Business Services class team with consultation from its teacher, Thomas H. Daigre Endowed Chair of Business Administration Mark Weaver. LSU Flores MBA students Stanley Savage and Ashley Thomas, who are part of the LSU Tiger Business Services class, designed the business plan.

Savage and Thomas chose the project because food banks face struggles in providing fresh produce for recipients.

“They wanted to offer a business solution to the problem that was cooperative,” Weaver said. “The project promotes community participation and is the first community garden of its kind based on a viable business plan that could be replicated elsewhere.”

Weaver added that the garden has already been planted and is being tended by adults with disabilities.

According to a release issued by The Arc Baton Rouge, “The project truly promotes the core value of ‘Community Participation’ of The Arc and has definite community building potential through employment of individuals with and without disabilities. Additional features of the project are its low carbon footprint (locally grown) and natural (although not certified organic) horticultural production methods.”

The Arc Baton Rouge, a United Way Agency, has been a part of Baton Rouge and surrounding parishes for more than 54 years and serves children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. For more information contact The Arc Baton Rouge at 225-927-0855 or visit www.arcbatonrouge.org.

The Rucks Department of Management at LSU’s E. J. Ourso College of Business endeavors to prepare students for careers in fields such as international management, human resources, entrepreneurship and industrial/labor relations. A generous donation by LSU alumnus William W. Rucks and his wife, Catherine, has aided the department in securing faculty who are repeatedly recognized for their research and has aided student-affiliated organizations in achieving top honors nationally. For more information, visit www.bus.lsu.edu/managementor call 225-578-6101.

 

Wendy  Marx 
E. J. Ourso College of Business
225-578-8865
wendy@lsu.edu