Grow Windham

Kyrstin Marien, a student at Eastern Connecticut State University, has been working hard this semester with a community organization called Grow Windham. Grow Windham is "a collaboration of community partners dedicated to promoting healthy food in the Windham region through support of community gardens, food projects, and food- and garden-based youth programming and engagement" (www.growwindham.org).

For Kyrstin, her involvement in Grow Windham started with an assignment for her Geography of Food class where she has to do a total of 15 hours of community service throughout the semester. This led her to Max Goto, the Center for Community Engagement's AmeriCorps VISTA and event coordinator. Max was able to match Kyrstin's interests in the topics of health and nutrition, with a community organization and it has turned out to be a perfect fit!

Kyrstin believes that GROW Windham is a "fantastic program." She describes it as an organization that is serving Windham by working on the food issues that the town is facing. She says that they are "very active in the community and the community gradens", and what makes them such a great program is the fact that they "engage the community in whatever project they are working on". They are involved with the Food Coop and have programs at the elementary, middle and high school levels. "Everyone I have worked with is so passionate which makes me passionate about it!"

Through this organization, Kyrstin has helped out at the Lauter Park community garden on Fridays with other student volunteers from both Eastern and UCONN. She has also helped out with the Windham Farmer's Market with a group of students from Windham High School. For the Farmer's Market, she has to be there at 7am! Although this is early, Kyrstin says that the high school kids still have fun and they really enjoy what they are doing. All the food they sell at the market comes from the community gardens and everything that does not sell goes directly to the soup kitchen.

The high school program started off as a summer program and is now an after school type program. With the time Kyrstin has spent with these students, she has noticed huge, positive changes in them. Kyrstin likes the fact that GROW Windham is "targeting students and creating a postive healthy lifestyle at a young age." This program not only encourages kids to choose healthier food options, but it gives them the reasons as to why this is important.

If you are interested in reading more about GROW Windham and their programs, you can visit www.growwindham.org.

Make a Difference Day

What are you up to this weekend? Well, if you don't have any plans yet, you should know that on Saturday, October 26th, it is Make a Difference Day.

What is Make a Difference Day?

"The stories told around Make a Difference Day show that anyone - regardless of age, location or resources - can accomplish amazing things when they take on the problems they see in their community" (http://makeadifferenceday.com/about-make-difference-day)

As a stressed, always busy, stay-up-all-night-sleep-all-day college student, it can be really hard to find time to volunteer! However, it is ten times easier when volunteering becomes a time to work with friends, make new connections in the community and about finding those opportunities that provide the skills needed for your career.

That is why this weekend, on Make a Difference Day, the largest national community service day in the U.S., I am encouraging you to get a group of your friends together and do something positive for the community. If you cannot find a community project for this weekend, don't let that stop you or discourage you. Do some research with your friends on possible ideas of service projects you could do. Talk to your R.As, your club e-board members, the staff at the Center for Community Engagement. There is an unlimited number of resources you can use to get connected with the community.

Sometimes making a difference is as simple as inviting someone on your floor who has been feeling homesick out with you and your friends, taking a trip to the grocery store and buying groceries to donate to the soup kitchen, or even taking the time to check out some of the local businesses and supporting them by purchasing something.

Whatever it is that you decide to do, send your photos and stories to the CCE, we want to know about what you are doing to make a positive difference and share what you are doing with the Eastern Community!

Think Pink! 

Tomorrow is the first Think Pink event at Eastern Connecticut State University. The purpose of this event is to raise awareness and money for Breast Cancer. Breast Cancer is impacting more and more people around the world every day.

The amount of support that ECSU has had for Breast Cancer victims has been nothing short of amazing. There have been bake sales, ribbon sales, bracelet sales and many others taking place all over campus this month in honor of the fact that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and this has really shown how important this issue is to students.

Think Pink is a walk that will be taking place on Webb Lawn on Wednesday, October 23 (that's tomorrow!) from 9am-1pm. There is already several teams registered to walk and the expectation is that there will be many more! There will be food, music, prizes and useful information.

Lisa, President of People Helping People, has had a large roll in the creation and planning of this event and she had received a lot of help and support from members of the PHP club. Her inspiration for the event was the 40 mile walk she did last year with an organization called Avon Foundation for Women. Lisa has been personally effected by Breast Cancer and she is sure that many other students are effected by it as well and she wanted to do something about it.

Students are encouraged to wear pink on Wednesday, walk to support the event and/or donate to the cause.
You can donate online at www.gofund.com/thinkpinkwalk2013. Proceeds will be going to the Avon Foundation for Women to fight breast cancer. If you have any questions e-mail PHP at peoplehelping@my.easternct.edu or cce@easternct.edu.

Join together in the fight against Breast Cancer with the ECSU community!

CCE Happenings!

Events for the Week of October 21st

October 21: People Helping People Club Meeting 6pm in Student Center Room 219

October 22: CT Mobile Food Pantry at 12:30pm

October 23: Walk for Breast Cancer Event 9am-1pm on Webb Lawn. All donations will go towards the Avon Foundation for for Women. All are welcome to stop by for food, music, fun, prizes, and useful information.

If you are interested in finding out more information about these events, please e-mail the CCE at cce@easternct.edu. You can also visit the CCE at 333 Prospect Street.

 

 

 

October...the month of food!

October is all about food! The pumpkin obsession, the apple sensations, the warm soups, and hot drinks. As the days get colder, we find ourselves leaning more and more towards food as a source of comfort.
October is Eat Better, Eat Together Month and Fair Trade Month. It's the month of World Food Day and National Food Day. There is even a national Taco Day and a National Candy Corn Day and I am sure there are many others!
The day that is coming up next is National Food Day which is October 24, 2013. "Food Day is a nationwide celebration and a movement for healthy, affortable and sustainable food" (Foodday.org).
According to Foodday.org, this year's National Food Day aims to:

• Promote safer, healthier diets: Currently in America, the top sources of calories for children ages 2-18 are grain desserts such as cake and cookies, pizza, and sugary drinks.
• Support sustainable and organic farms: The USDA estimates that of all the food sales that occur in the U.S. Market for agricultural products, only 1.6 percent of these sales come from local farms.
• Reduce Hunger: More than 16 million children in America live in a household that struggles to put food on the table on a daily basis.
• Reform factory farms to protect the environment and farm animals: 70 percent of all polution that occurs in U.S. rivers and streams comes from Agricultural practices and especially larger scale operations.
• Support fair working conditions for food and farm workers: The average annual income for crop workers is between $10,000 and $12,499 for individuals and $15,000 and $17,499 for families.

How can you help?

• "Write or call your U.S. senators, U.S. representative, governor, state legislators, mayor, or city council and ask them to support increased funding for healthy food initiatives, including promotions of fruits and vegetables, campaigns against junk food, or getting rid of junk foods from all city or state property and using the government’s buying power to support local and/or organic farming" (foodday.org)
• Visit the FoodDay.org website to find out more information about holding a Food Day event.
• Join the environmental club, People Helping People or Food Justice Committee on campus
• Volunteer in local schools and help teach kids about healthy eating

To find out about any of the opportunities listed above contact the Center for Community Engagement at cce@easternct.edu.

Eastern CT State University's Repertory Dance Troup's

 

Birthday Card Extravaganza!!!

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October 2013--Over the course of two practice times last week, the Eastern Repertory Dance Troup made 137 birthday cards. Each of the cards will be going to a homeless teenager in Connecticut. One card a time, the Troup teem members used bright colored markers to decorate ordinary, plain white paper with balloons, hearts and streamers. Inside the cards were kind words and uplifting messages to encourage the teens.


Carlie Bermani-McCann, a member of the Troup, decribes enthusiastically how the idea came about. "When we saw this idea on dosomething.org we knew this is something we could do as a family to help make these kids' birthdays special." She describe the Troup as "a close knit family of dancers who care about others and try to give back as much as possible."

These birthday cards will be sent to three different teen shelters in Connecticut.

Thank you Eastern Repertory Dance Team for sharing your story with us!

4-H Mentoring Opportunity

Do you want to help mentor kids, get some hands on teaching experience or just want to help out in the community?

 

If so, check out this 4-H mentoring program!

Contact the UCONN 4-H office at 860-875-3331 or mentoring@tollandcounty4-hct.org if you are interested!

 

 

Experience is Important!

"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. 

Involve me and I learn." ~Benjamin Franklin

I have found that the best way to make the most of my college years is through getting involved in volunteer opporunities, clubs and internships. Sure, going to class is important, that paper really should be written and that group project should be worked on before the last minute, but these things should not consume your entire time in college.

Although it can be tempting to spend all your time on these things, especially as the homework assignments pile up and there is a test in every class this week, sometimes it it best to look above that pile of work and see what else there is out there. In fact, taking part in extracurricular opportunities allows you to build on what you are learning in the classroom making it so the information becomes alive and tangible instead of just words on a page.

Throughout this blog, one can see the various different kinds of experiences that the Center for Community Engagement at Eastern offers. There are education volunteer opportunities for those who are majoring in education. There are tutoring positions for math, science, reading and many others. Working in community gardens is a great chance for environmental earth science majors to apply what they are learning in class to help improve the effectiveness of the garden.

Don't think, however, that you have have to choose only opporunities that are close to your major. You may find yourself discovering something you did not know you enjoyed or maybe you find that the experience was not the best. The important thing is that you are finding out what you enjoy, what you dislike, what you are terrible at and what you are really good at before you have to step out into the "real world."

Building relationships is another important aspect of getting involved in activities outside of school work. Some find that they find friendships that last a lifetime through shared volunteer, internship and club experiences. I met one of my closest friends through my involvement with People Helping People (PHP) freshman year. You just never know who you will meet and where that relationship will lead you.

One last piece of advice: do not be afraid to step out of the crowd and do something different than what everyone else is doing. Doing something outside of the box is what makes your experience unique from everyone else's and if anything, it will give you an interesting story to tell.

~Nicolle, CCE Intern

The American Red Cross comes to Eastern!

The American Red Cross comes to Eastern!

The American Red Cross is known for may things, and the number of blood drives across the nation makes them the largest blood collection organization in the country.

The blood that the Red Cross collects is delivered to a Red Cross blood component lab where it is processed into red blood cells, plasma, platelets and/or cryoprecipitate. That meas that your blood donation can help up to 3 people!

The basic criteria for donating blood are as followed: you must be at least 17 years old, weigh at least 110 pounds and be in good health.

At Eastern's blood drive last year, students, faculty and staff donated 87 productive pints the first day of the drive, surpassing Eastern's goal, set by the American Red Cross, by 8 pints. On the second day of the drive, 98 pints were donated, surpassing the goal by 4 pints.

Today is the final day for Eastern's blood drive. It is taking place from 10:30am-4pm in the Betty Tipton Room of the Student Center.

Help save a life, consider donating blood.

To find out more information about donating blood visit www.redcrossblood.org.
To find out more information about the American Red Cross visit www.redcross.org.

Thank you!

 

What is Relay for Life?

(You can find all of this information on the Relay for Life website: http://www.relayforlife.org/learn/whatisrelay/index)

Relay for Life is a twenty-four walk put on by the American Cancer Society. The purpose of the walk is to raise awareness and money for all different forms of cancer.

"Cancer remains the second most common cause of death in the US, accounting for nearly 1 of every 4 deaths" (cancer.org).

Relay for Life emphasizes community and hope, as everyone, from young children to college students to grandparents, join together to fight against a disease that is impacting millions of lives.

Where do the donations go?

• Cancer Reseach
• Hope Lodge: "provides a free and comfortable place for patients and their caregivers to stay, so they can focus on getting well"
• Providing the transportation cancer patients need to get to and from their treatment.
• As well as other programs that support patients as they go through their treatment and post-treatment

Relay For Life has become a worldwide phenomenon, raising nearly $5 billion to fight cancer.

Is there a Relay for Life event near Eastern Connecticut State University?

Chelsea Haddad, a senior at Eastern, is the liason between ECSU and Windham's Relay for Life Chapter. Below is her message to anyone who may be interested in being a part of Windham's Relay for Life:

Thank you for your interest in Relay for Life!

Our Next relay is October 18-19^th, 2014 at Eastern’s Ball Field!

We would love it if you would be involved. You could start or join a team, join the planning committee, or volunteer the day of the event. We are always looking for new teams and it is great to get your team signed up early and to have plenty of time to raise money! The planning committee is always looking for more people to help us put on this event. If you wanted to volunteer day of event and help out we would appreciate that too!

I am a team captain and planning committee member and have been doing Relay for Life for 6 years. I would love to answer any questions you may have about Relay for Life or helping out.

You can email me at haddadc@my.easternct.edu if you are interested or if you have any questions!

Thank You,

Chelsea Haddad

Join the CCE Movement!

 

 

Eastern Students are making a difference! If you have ever wondered exactly what kind of impact the CCE is making on Willimantic and surrounding communities, this blog post is for you!

 

It is estimated that Eastern students provide essential tutoring and mentoring services to local schools worth $147,000.

 

During the 2012-2013 academic year alone:

•  1,066 Eastern students did a total of 13,137 hours of service
• 609 students who worked with children enrolled in Windham Public Schools completed 5,199 hours of service
• 417 Eastern student who worked with local youth did 2,108 hours of service
• 211 students served as tutors or mentors in the local schools completing 2,603 volunteer hours

This was all done by EASTERN students.

 

We want to see that number of hours increase this academic year! If you want to be part of the movement, come visit the CCE at 333 Prospect Street or send an e-mail to cce@easternct.edu.