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Tressels Ring Bells for Charities All Year Long
BOARDMAN, Ohio -- In freezing temperatures, bitter winds and precipitation that alternated between a cold mist and even colder rain Tuesday afternoon, Jim and Ellen Tressel never stopped smiling and never stopped ringing the familiar red bells in front of a Salvation Army red kettle.
They stood outside the Barnes & Noble Bookstore at the Shops at Boardman Park as part of what the president of Youngstown State University called “one of the great traditions in America. …
“I tried to find my hat before I left, but I don't know where it wound up,” Tressel said with a laugh as he and his wife took hold of the black handles on the red bells. “Why couldn't we have done this Sunday? It was 60 and sunny," he joked.
Still, the first family of YSU never stopped waving, shaking hands and wishing everyone who walked or drove by “Happy Holidays” or “Merry Christmas” as othe YSU administrators also rang bells for the Salvation Army across the Valley.
“This is our day to step away from the 9,000 things we have to do on our campus. This is a day for the Salvation Army,” the YSU president said of those -- himself included -- who took two-hour shifts to ring bells. “It's important that people know the university is appreciative of everything they do for us and that we try to do everything we can to do as many good things as we can for the community.”
It's almost certain that none of the other administrators commanded the attention the Tressels did. Since Jim Tressel accepted the job in May, he and his wife have been two of the most sought-after people in the Mahoning Valley for events and for volunteer activities. For instance, the couple has done work with Habitat for Humanity and the Mahoning Valley Historical Society, and the president has been the guest speaker at least once a week for events throughout the region.
Despite their frequent appearances in the limelight, Mrs. Tressel says the two aren't the celebrities as some view them.
“I don't know if we're a benefit to [organizations] as celebrities,” she said, laughing. “We're just normal people doing what we can to do our part in the community. If they look at us as celebrities, that can be a good thing but we don't feel that way. We want to be normal people helping out.”
The communities where they’ve lived have been good to them, she added, and they've always viewed volunteering their time, as they did again Tuesday, as a way to show their support and return what's been given them.
“The neat thing about this community is that everyone tries their best to help one another. You always see people helping with a variety of things,” Jim Tressel chimed in. “At YSU, we get so much support from so many people that we try to do our best to get out to things like this. There are so many wonderful causes. And we wish there were more hours in the day to spend as much time in as many places as we can.”
With so many events, both on campus and off, it sometimes seems like President Tressel spends as much time shaking hands and having his picture taken as he does in his office on the second floor of Tod Hall. Events such as ringing Salvation Army bells, he commented, can be just as much of a boost to the university as setting policies.
“People feel like they know us and then when they see us in a situation like this, they come to us,” he said. “I think it's fun and we want people to know that we're here for them. It's part of what we believe in and part of what we think we should do.”
His wife added that doing things like this benefits the entire area and that, while they've been busy, they still have time to give.
“It brings awareness to the university and it brings focus to the fact that anyone, even a president, can come out and do something like this,” she said. “We're just getting started. He's been on the job since July and we've been in touch with several outreach organizations. There's a lot of them in the area that need help. We want to help in any way we can.”
Pictured: Jim and Ellen Tressel ring bells Tuesday for the Salvation Army outside the Barnes & Noble Bookstore in Boardman.
CLICK HERE to watch '3 Minutes With' Ellen and Jim Tressel.
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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