Small number of college students take advantage of gift cards

Out of these 20 or so volunteers at sandbag central in Moorhead, none of them are college students taking advantage of the gift cards offered.

"Just get more bags built that's the theory of the whole thing just get more bags."

The city bought more than 15 hundred, 10 dollar gift cards from the 3 Moorhead schools. Every 2 hours a student works they get a gift card with no max on the number they can tally up. But only a couple cards were handed out today.

"In truth $5 an hour is a stipend, but I thought we'd even get more community service workers."

Students we talked to at MSUM say they didn't even know the city was offering the gift cards, and with their busy schedules they say the city might have to up the ante to see more of them out.

"College students have jobs they have a lot of homework, they stay up all hours of the night trying to study. I’d be more up to sandbag if we got time off of school."

"The people that don't want to sandbag are not going to go out even for a $10 gift card, but I think it's a great incentive for people that do actually go out and help the town."

A slow start, but officials say just wait until those river levels start rising. The numbers are sure to increase, gift cards or not. As of 5:00 today, 97-thousand bags have been filled in Moorhead.

Tags: your city, todd kurtz, higher education, moorhead, charity, flood, news