Shack-A-Thon

Shack-A-Thon

 

Tuesday, November 19^th-Wednesday, November 20^th – The wind blew, sending a chill down the backs of ECSU college students as they made their way quickly to class. It was a high of 47 degrees during the day and a low of 31 degrees once the sun disappeared in the evening. Still, Habitat for Humanity Club members embraced the cold as they made their way to the center of Webb Lawn, carting large cardboard boxes behind them. There they started creating what would become their home for the next 30 straight hours, only going inside for class and to use the restroom.

The Shack-A-Thon is an event run by Habitat for Humanity in order to raise awareness for sub standardized housing. Members got to experience what it is like to live like a person who is unable to afford a place to call “home.” Club members had to raise $100 in order to participate.

Freshmen Habitat for Humanity members, Sam Walter, Kaley K. and Alex Hoffman and Sophomore, Kevin Powel, participated in this event for the first time. They collected their boxes at noon on Tuesday and had already been outside for nearly seven hours. They mentioned how “blessed they were to have a dorm with heat.” They also said that this experience really made them appreciate all the little things that they had so often taken for granted in the past such as their backpacks, sleeping bags and even their name brand clothing. Despite everything they had with them for this event, they were still cold and this made them think about what it must be like for people who do not even have a warm coat or gloves.

Eastern students and staff were encouraged to donate money or they could also make a donation in food for the Shack-A-Thon participants to eat. For every donation that was made during those 30 hours, the contributor could nail a paper brick to a plywood cutout of a house.

In the end, the ECSU Habitat for Humanity club was able to collect a total of $1,750. The participants were able to persevere through freezing temperatures and wind capable of blowing their structures away in order to support a great cause.

Habitat for Humanity

Last week I had the opportunity to talk to Jessica Wagner, the Public Relations officer of the ECSU Habitat for Humanity club. Jessica is only a freshman at Eastern this year, but she believes so much in the mission of Habitat for Humanity, that she was made the PR officer earlier in the semester and has become really involved in the activities that the club participates in.

The mission statement of the ECSU Habitat for Humanity Club is as followed: “To increase awareness of sub-standard housing on campus and in the community. We also help to eradicate this issue with Windham and New London affiliate. Members can benefit from Gaining Community Service Hours, Learning Construction Skills, Traveling Around the Country, Enhancing Their Resume, Meeting New Friends, Getting More Involved In The University’s Community and Helping Families Get Out of Poverty Housing” (http://www.easternct.edu/studentactivities/clubs_orgs/habitat.htm).

Jessica told me a lot about the two big events that Habitat is putting on during Eastern’s Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week (November 18-23).

The first event, an Oxfam America Hunger Banquet, is going to be on Monday, November 18. People Helping People (PHP) is also helping out with the event. If you have never been to a Hunger Banquet, then I would definitely encourage you to attend this event. The premise of the Hunger Banquet is better left a surprise, but what I can tell you is to go to Niejadlik Hall at 7pm and come hungry.

 The second event, the annual Shack-A-Thon, is going to be from November 19^th-20^th on Webb Lawn. At this event you can “see your fellow ECSU students live and sleep in boxes for 30 hours straight to help raise awareness for substandard housing.” Habitat club members raise $100 to sleep in boxes for a night on campus. The money goes to the Windham Habitat for Humanity affiliate.

Curious about how you can become a Habitat for Humanity Club Member? You can attend their meetings on Mondays at 7:30pm in Room 219 in the Student Center. If you want to find out more about their club you can e-mail them at habitatforhumanity@my.easternct.edu. You can also like them on Facebook or Follow them on Twitter @ECSUHabitat.

I asked Jessica why she thought Eastern Students should get involved in Habitat. She said that is was a “good way to meet new people, you get to go to different places and it is a great way to help in the community.”

~Nicolle Hill, CCE Intern

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Impact...

Ever wonder if you are actually making an impact? Or if what you're doing is really making a difference?

 

Dillon Melady, a CCE student leader, shares a story about the Recess Program that started last week.

 

Dillon and a group of student volunteers met 3rd grade students outside during their Recess time. Instead of being shy and avoiding these older, bigger college students, these 3rd graders let their curiousity get the best of them as they introduced themselves and got right to the point that they wanted to play. It ended up being a great time of playing kickball and jumping rope!

The second time that they went, all the kids remembered the volunteers and were so excited to see that they had come back! The 3rd graders were not the only ones happy to see the Eastern volunteers; the teachers also told Dillon "how grateful they were for the volunteers to be there as positive role models." One student told Dillon about his plans about going to Eastern one day.

 

Student volunteers...what you are doing DOES matter! It is making a difference! No matter how small and even if you do not see it right away, you are making an impact.



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Social Work Club and the Adopt a Family Project

Eastern Connecticut State University has some pretty amazing clubs who do some awesome things for the community. For example, the Social Work Club has been working on the Adopt a Family Project for the second year in a row. Chaneil Beckford, President of the Social Work Club, gives a description of what the
Adopt a Family Project is. 

Social Work Club Adopt a family Project

Last Year the former Social Work club President Judy-ann McDuffus thought it would be helpful to offer our services and time by giving back to the community by adopting a family. Last year was the first time our club got involved with Windham Area Inter Faith Ministries Adopt a family project, intended to help low income families experience and enjoy a Christmas.

We had over ten fundraisers and did over 121 hours of fundraising and we were able to make over $800 in which used to help five local families. We asked for donations and held several bakes sales to allocate the money, we were able to purchase thirty gifts for the five families including; toys, blankets, infant clothing, scarf and Wal-Mart gift cards for food.

This year we would like to continue to extend our assistance to other families and work towards helping them to also enjoy Christmas with our dedication and effort. It was truly a rewarding experience the first time we helped families that we felt pleased to help again this year.

We have already begun the bake sale fundraisers and we have been requesting other forms of donations, we intend to deliver the gift to the families on December 6^th 2013.
This year we hope to not only provide these families with gifts we would like to provide them with hope, that there still are people willing and motivated to make a difference in their lives.

-Chaneil Beckford

Social Work Club President

Club Members wrapping the gifts for delivery

To learn more about the Windham Area Inter Faith Ministries (WAIM) and their Adopt a Family Program, you can visit their website at: http://waimct.org/programs-draft/seasonal-programs/adopt-a-family.

Make sure you stop by the bake sale fundraisers that the Social Work club is holding this semester to donate or just to say hi and check out what their club is all about!

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.

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!

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!

 

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

5 Lessons From a Student Volunteer

         My work here at the CCE began in the summer of 2012 at the Puentes al Futuro (Bridges to the Future) Summer Camp.  I have had some experience with middle school students; but 80% of my prior tutoring experience was with elementary age children.  I was open to this new endeavor though, and find it to be one of the best experiences of my college career thus far.  It also led to me to dedicate many of my hours, here at the CCE, in the tutoring program at the Middle School.  I now am a student leader of the Middle School House A/B Tutorial Program, and I enjoy it very much.  The children are always excited to see me, and it puts a smile on my face knowing that the time I have dedicated to this program has impacted their lives. There are also 5 lessons that I have learned through this process.

1.      Patience

Students may not always warm up to you immediately, but with patience and you will eventually be able to form mentor and student relationships.

2.       Dedication

                 Showing that you are dedicated to helping the student’s academics needs, will allow students to feel that they do have people that are willing to support them. Dedication requires setting aside time to put your full attention into the program, and giving your 100% while you’re at the site.

3.      Laugh

As a mentor/tutor you have to keep a professional attitude, but it is ok to laugh once and awhile with the student.  It allows them to feel more welcome.

4.      Show compassion

You never know what background a student may come from (socioeconomic, ethnicity, home environment) so always be sensitive to these issues.

5.      Push for Success

There are students who say “they can’t”, take that out of their vocabulary and show them that with hard work they can achieve academic success.

What Your Peers Have to Say About Volunteering

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

It’s easy to feel like you’ve got it really bad and nothing seems to go your way but on those days volunteering is a reality check—Someone’s always got it worse which is why it’s so important to reach out and help—what goes around comes around!

I have always been interested but never had the opportunities in my hometown. I realized this community has great potential.

Volunteering has helped me realize who I am, what I want to do, and has shown me what compassion can do. It has become my number one hobby.

It has helped me understand the communities I live in and improve it to the best of my ability. The kids I work with have helped me grow as a person and become more understanding.

Meet new people—Great experience—Make a difference—FUN—Learn your strengths—Helping others

Volunteering with children has helped me to relieve stress and it has helped me find my calling in life.

I am a grand step closer to being a leader. I gained more openness and love toward my community. My world view has changed for the better!

It helped me grow as a leader. I also was able to share my stories with younger students who are striving for success just like me.  –Eddie B.

It has helped me meet new people.

Volunteering has helped me by allowing me to gain experiences by interacting with kids different from my field. I was also able to give back to my community by spending time with them and helping them with their school work.

Volunteering has helped me realize what I want to do with the rest of my life.

I have realized that a little bit goes a long way. A little kindness can make a big difference.

Volunteering has helped me realize not everyone comes from as good a family background as I have but just having someone to look up to and talk to can make a real difference in their life.

Volunteering has helped me to see the good in others, maximize my productivity, share my smiles and welcome others. It has also helped me prioritize.

Volunteering has allowed me to gain more experience with children and allowed me to take a break from the stresses of the day. It was a lot of fun!

It has made me appreciate children more. It feels great to achieve something, and I want to volunteer at different places.

I was much challenged and grew a lot. Babies teach patience.

Volunteering has helped me find my true passion in life.

I volunteered at the middle school. I got to work with 5^th and 6^th graders and they have taught me so much. I can’t wait to volunteer next semester.

Volunteering has helped me develop my teaching skills in Spanish language education. It will be easier for me to become an ESL teacher.

By volunteering I achieve personal growth. As well, I get to go off campus and get involved in the community.

Volunteering has helped me learn more about myself. I realized that my love for helping others is something I want to continue. It has been very rewarding. I can only hope I make a difference like the kids I worked with made on me.

Volunteering has helped me to meet new people, learn their stories, make friends, and connect them with the community.

Volunteering has reminded me that the spirit of humanity is not only alive but prospering.

Over the past two weeks I have helped friends study for their GREs. Over this time I myself have reconnected with some of my sills that have dulled. But thank you Brit and Kate for helping me sharpen my skills. –J.B.

Not only have I been able to reflect on my life but on the lives of others. I am graduating next semester and until now I had no idea what I wanted to do. Now I know I am on the path to helping others.

Volunteering has helped me stay humble. It always reminds me that my life is not all about me. There are always others that could use help. I also learn how to gain respect and show patience.

Volunteering makes me grateful for the position I’m in and gives me a sense of happiness that I’ve made someone smile. Making new friends is great!