Warrior Welcome Day of Service

On August 27, 2014, Student Leaders from the Center of Community Engagement, Student Orientation Counsel (SOC), and freshmen participated in the Warrior Welcome Day of Service. The goal for this program is to get new students involve in the community as early as possible to give appreciation and understanding of the relationship between the university and the town of Willimantic. During orientation, students filled out interest cards and many of them checked community service.

The first event of the day, was cleaning up Eastern Connecticut's Railroad Museum, led by student leader, Lily Egan. Two freshman and one SOC member attended the event. At first, the freshmen did not know what was going on. They helped clean up the Railroad Museum, and had a great time.

"Its not about how many showed up, it is about the dedication that two people showed up and the fact that they became friends in the process" -Lily Egan

The next event was the Covenant Soup Kitchen, lead by student leaders, Jalpa Patel, and Melanie Morales. Eight freshmen and a SOC members volunteered. "Some volunteered at soup kitchens before, and others wanted to get to know the community" Patel said. "The volunteers enjoyed it, and want to do it again at some point".

At the end of the afternoon, Student Leader, Valerie Lewis, lead WAIM (Windham Area Interfaith Ministry). Nine freshmen and one SOC volunteered. At WAIM, people can donate clothes, and the community can buy. WAIM is ran by volunteers and has four staff members. The freshmen enjoyed it, and it opened their eyes about different social classes of Windham. The coordinator, Evelyn Solla, told about the history of the town, and how it has gone down economically.

On the day of the event, 97 freshmen volunteered, and served a total of 137 hours. The event was successful, with the volunteers having fun, and would like to help out the Willimantic Community in the future.