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Michelle Vegliante (’11) has a heart for helping those in need.

Whether it’s mixing cement by hand, painting sites for local nonprofits or working with orphans in Honduras, Vegliante’s undergraduate commitment to community service has led to a career that impacts the lives of people around the globe.

“I feel lucky every day. I get to spend my day raising money for a nonprofit that helps save lives and keeps people healthy,” said the event administrator for the American Heart Association in Washington, D.C. “I wouldn’t be in the career I am today or so happy in my job without the opportunities Georgia Southern’s Office of Student Leadership and Civic Engagement gave me. It is so hard to describe, but I feel a sense of goodness at my core for nonprofit work,” said the Marietta, Ga., native about her student training at the University.

As an undergraduate, Vegliante established close working relationships with more than 10 nonprofit organizations in the Statesboro community, and also launched her own organization called Painters for Nonprofits, created to lend a helping hand to nonprofits. Since her graduation, Painters for Nonprofits has continued to paint buildings and facilities, such as the Boys and Girls Club and the Kiwanis Ogeechee Fairgrounds.

Vegliante also traveled to Honduras during an Alternative Break trip, where she worked with other students to build schools and housing for impoverished villages. During the trip, she met Students Helping Honduras co-founder Shin Fujiyama, which led to a realization about her career path.

“I was really inspired and I knew that I wouldn’t be happy in a job if I couldn’t do something that would make a difference in the lives of others,” she said. Today, that includes raising an estimated $1.2 million dollars to make people healthier through the Heart’s Delight Wine Tasting and Auction, an epicurean four-day food and wine event benefiting the American Heart Association. The event features visiting winemakers from all over the world, auctions and dinners prepared by culinary greats in exclusive D.C. locations.

There’s no doubt that Vegliante will take this challenge and turn it into an opportunity to help others.
“I’ve always wanted to do something bigger than myself that goes beyond my lifetime,” she said.

When Mehmet Samiratedu arrived on campus as a student from his native Turkey in 1980, he knew very little about the state of Georgia, yet alone Georgia Southern.

“I’ve never felt like a foreigner in Statesboro, though,” he said.

Over the past 30 years, Samiratedu has joined the True Blue faithful, developing strong community ties and friendships with all of the University’s football coaches. In the process, he has amassed an impressive and coveted collection of Georgia Southern memorabilia on display in his office.

Currently the manager of The University Store, Samiratedu’s passion for Eagles football can be traced back to his employment on campus. “I started working at The University Store as a student, and we sold merchandise on tables set up in the end zones,” he said about the first games held at Statesboro High School. While selling, Samiratedu and other workers also found themselves catching field goals.

Samiratedu’s collection spans the glory days of Georgia Southern football from Erk Russell to Jeff Monken and documents every important athletic milestone achieved by the Eagles. The items, from every season since 1981, include signed, framed posters from each Eagle coach, books and signed footballs from the team and coaches. Samiratedu was also part of the team that worked to get Russell’s popular Erk, Football, Fans and Friends book published.

Samiratedu admits that he is frequently approached by fans eager to purchase items from the collection, but he isn’t interested in parting with the special lifelong memories.

While the loyal fan has many True Blue memories, one of his favorites was a ritual observed by his friend Russell. “On Fridays before a football game, he would come and get a box of matches from The University Store – it was his tradition,” he fondly recalled.

Sometimes having a little spare time can lead to big ideas.

Just ask Paul Barkley (’90) the founder of the Web site gsufans.com. The site provides the latest information and coverage of Georgia Southern sports – whether it is football, basketball or baseball – and encourages interaction among fans. “I like to view it as a virtual watercooler,” said Barkley, “where people can say pretty much whatever they want. Lots of emotions come out on the Web site.”

The idea started in 1997, while Barkley was pulling double duty as a stay-at-home dad and working a midnight shift at a Macon, Ga., hospital. “I had a lot of idle time at home with a newborn, and this was the advent of the Internet. I met some Georgia Southern fans online through different Web sites and realized there was very little information about our sports programs out there,” he said. Barkley soon teamed up with his Pi Kappa Phi fraternity brother Lance Smith to launch the site that year. Smith’s involvement also brought an added benefit to gsufans.com: his brother.

“At the time, Lance’s younger brother Giff (a former first team Associate Press All-American at Southern) was on the coaching staff with Paul Johnson, and we felt that the Web site could provide some additional insight into the program,” said Barkley, the operations manager of the laboratory at the Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon.

From August to December, Barkley spends countless evening hours and entire weekends of his spare time providing coverage of football games and taking photos from the sidelines to post to gsufans.com. What started with 10 or 11 fans interacting on a daily basis has now grown to 1,000, and a staff of five volunteers works on the site. “Over the years, we’ve had more than a million posts from fans,” he said.

Barkley’s tireless dedication to gsufans.com and Georgia Southern is for one simple reason: supporting athletics. “We’re not trying to be a newsmaker, but a portal to the news and a resource. I want our forum to develop a sense of community that emphasizes the positive aspects and successes of Georgia Southern’s programs.”