November 2014 CCE Round-Up

Knock, Knock Give a Sock

This month we’re highlighting the work of juniors Shachar Avraham, an Integrative Media Communications Major, and Zoe Liebman, a Political Science major, who recently brought the Knock Knock Give a Sock initiative to Binghamton University. Knock Knock Give a Sock was founded at NYU in Spring 2014 and involves students going around campus collecting socks to be donated to various homeless shelters in the New York-New Jersey area.

Photo courtesy Pipe Dream

“I ran into Adina Lichtman, the founder of "Knock Knock Give A Sock," Liebman says, “and she told me about this amazing initiative she started—a campus-wide effort to collect socks for the homeless. I was immediately intrigued because I believe community service is one of the greatest things a person can do.” Avraham and Liebman have a goal to collect 500 pairs of socks by December. They have gone door to door on campus with bags and boxes, asking students for donations. The pair have also gone to various off-campus housing complexes to collect donations. There are donation boxes in residence halls and they have also reached out to Greek Life organizations asking them to collect socks from their members. They have already collected numerous bags of socks and are looking forward to tallying the final count.

“This unique community service initiative will address a serious need among the homeless within the Greater Binghamton area—socks,” Avraham says. “KKGAS is an easy and direct way to engage students in community service.”

Avraham is the CEO of Campus Pursuit, serves as the Marketing Chairman of AEPi fraternity, and serves on Hillel’s Kedma board, a sub-religious group of Hillel at Binghamton. Liebman is the co-director for BTV, an intern for Fox40 News in Binghamton, as well as a member of the Student Conduct Board. She is also an intern for the Public Speaking Skills lab.

Avraham and Liebman want to get as many people involved in this initiative as possible. The more people who get involved, the more socks will be donated! For more information on how to contribute to the cause, contact Shachar Avraham at savraha1@binghamton.edu or Zoe Liebmann at zliebma1@binghamton.edu.

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Mr. Greek God Fundraiser

On October 18, Alpha Epsilon Phi held their 29th Annual “Mr. Greek God” competition in the Events Center. Each year, AEPhi holds this event to raise money for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation, as well as Sharsheret—a national not-for-profit organization supporting Jewish women and their families facing breast cancer. The competition included delegates from five different fraternities and consisted of a body building section, a talent portion, and a question and answer session of why Greek life is important to each delegate. The event was spearheaded by juniors Jen Pincus, AEPhi’s VP of Philanthropy, and Kathryn Schutzenbach. The event raised $22,000.

“The event was great! So many people came out to support our philanthropies and it really shows how Greek Life can come together to support each other,” said Gladys Guerrero, President of AEPhi said.” I am so proud to be a part of this sorority because of our dedication to philanthropy! I cannot wait for next year; I’m sure it will be just as successful!” $500 worth of gift cards were donated by local restaurants and stores to be presented to the winners of the competition. Congratulations to AEPhi for putting on a fantastic philanthropy event!

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CHOW Hunger Walk

On October 19, ninety Binghamton University students stepped up and volunteered to assist in running the Annual CHOW (Community Hunger Outreach Warehouse) Hunger Walk. CHOW's mission is to address the issue of food insecurity and feed hungry people in Broome County.

Hundreds of Binghamton students, staff and faculty members, and community members collected monetary pledges from their friends and family and participated in the walk, and participants also donated cans and boxes of nonperishable food to be donated to numerous soup kitchens in the Binghamton area.

Sponsors included the Broome County Council of Churches, Binghamton’s Center for Civic Engagement, Weis Markets, and more. The walk started behind the East gym and totaled around 1.5 miles. “It was great that we had almost 100 volunteers who were willing to come out on a cold day to support a great cause,” said Indy Li, a Graduate Assistant at the CCE who volunteered as a Team Leader coordinating the students working at the registration table at the Walk. Staff and Students at Binghamton University collected a total of $1,199 dollars. Our students want to make a difference and as this year's CCE t-shirt says, #MakeGoodHappen. Our students DO make good happen!

Service Sightings Winners

Congratulations to our winners this week!

 B.U. students from Intervarsity Christian Fellowship after a day of serving soup and engaging homeless men and women in NYC during their alternative spring break with the New York City Urban Project.

-- Jonathan Yee, English/Asian and Asian American Studies Major

A group shot from the Tropical Forestry Initiative Fundraiser 5K walk/run around the BU Brain. Over 33 people ran this 5K last Sunday and the event overall raised $900.

-- Allison Jaeklie, Senior, History Major

 Volunteers from the Student Volunteer Center worked with VINES (Volunteers Improving Neighborhood Environments), an organization dedicated to redeveloping urban sites into productive green spaces. The green farm was in poor condition due to the September flood, so volunteers helped weed out and compost vegetation, aerate the soil, dig out fences and move the framework of their greenhouse.

-- Karoline Lee

Binghamton University College Republicans visit the VFW Post 478 on Veterans' Day to honor local veterans of our nation's wars. We made a huge poster/card and wrote personalized thank you messages to the people who have served our country. We traveled to the VFW Post 478 in Binghamton to personally thank them and give them this as a token of our appreciation. We were excited to spend time with them and hear their war stories. 

-- Tara-Marie Lynch, Senior, Economics/Political Science/International Political Economy Major

Kady Perry, local artist, B.U. student, and co-founder of QuarterYellow Studios, teamed up with B.U. S.O.M. Scholars to work with community groups through Project Rainbow to create a Healing Flood Wall.

-- Kady Perry

 "Service Sightings" is a bi-weekly photo competition put on by the CCE. Submit a photo of you, your friends, or your student group engaged in the act of community service to win! Enter by posting your photo onto the CCE Facebook wall with a short caption explaining your photo, your name, e-mail, year and major. There will be winners every other week, and the winning photos will be promoted both on and offline.

J.U.M.P. Weekend, A Big Step Forward by Sarah Kuras

Last Thursday, 88 Seventh- and Eighth-graders and approximately 150 Binghamton University students waited anxiously in the Old Union Hall. Assignments had been made, and they were about to find out who they would be spending all their time with over the next four days (and staying connected with for the next five years).

The Seventh- and Eighth-grade New York City area youth (mostly 12- and 13-year-olds) had traveled to Binghamton to participate in this year’s J.U.M.P. Weekend, a four-day program sponsored each spring semester by the Juvenile Urban Multicultural Program (J.U.M.P). The program was founded in 1991 to aid “at-risk” students in underprivileged communities, where high school drop-out rates were well above the national average. J.U.M.P. believes the most effective way to help combat this problem is to motivate students to pursue higher education at an early age, specifically during their transition into high school.

Each “protégé” (mentee) in the program is paired with a “host,” who lives on campus, and a mentor, who work together to connect with their protégé. All hosts and mentors make a commitment to stay in contact with the protégé for five years after the weekend so that the protégés have someone they can turn to if they have issues or need advice on applying to college. I feel blessed to have been given this opportunity to make an impact on someone’s life for the next five years.

While I knew that this weekend would be a huge time commitment on top of my academic obligations, I also saw an incredible opportunity to make a meaningful connection with my protégé. Recent experiences both in and out of New York City had strengthened my desire to be a part of youth development, work on community building activities, and, especially as I reach the end of my career as a Master’s student, to share my college experience with those who may not know about their educational opportunities going forward.

Over the next four days, over numerous ice cream cones and activities, and late nights hanging out in the dorms, the host and I got to know our protégé. She was a soft-spoken, straightforward middle school student from Brooklyn who was interested in music and law. She had been looking forward to this weekend for a while and embraced it as an opportunity to spend some time away from home, see new places and meet new people. I have no question that she will succeed.

In addition to ice cream and fun, the weekend also included educational workshops on leadership and success, cultural and social stereotyping, sexuality and tolerance, legal rights, and a special session where girls and boys had separate discussions about specific gender-related issues. Although the forums were mostly for the protégés to learn from each other and the forum leaders, I learned much just from being present and listening to their stories. Many of them shared deep secrets, incredible stories, and thoughts mature beyond their years.

Each night, protégés were able to participate in fun activities, including a hip-hop workshop and a roller skating night at Skate Estate, where many resilient protégés put on skates for the first time and tentatively made their way around the rink. As their confidence increased, so did their speed and their smiles. My protégé had only been skating twice before, and while initially she gripped my arm tightly, she was eventually coasting like a pro! I was proud to see her skate around with her friends, bubbling with excitement.

The final night concluded with a party in the Appalachian Dining Hall. The middle schoolers put on a talent show, showcasing their dancing, stepping, MCing, and singing skills. Then they danced the night away to a DJ from the city, with a mix of music from around the world and some old-school favorites.

During one of the breaks, I took our musical protégé to Fine Arts where she was able to play on one of the nicest pianos our school has to offer. Without a word, she sat down and played for an hour straight. She said that while she used to take lessons, now she teaches herself her favorite songs. It was obvious she had dedicated years to this instrument, and I am sure that her passion for the piano could be translated to anything she put her mind to.

At the Recognition Ceremony on the last day, we all received certificates of participation and had the opportunity to say a few words to everyone. Many of the students who shared their feelings rarely had the chance to share their thoughts with so many people, but they spoke eloquently and with great feeling, expressing their bond with their mentor and host, and their increased desire to attend college. The effectiveness of this program really shone during this last session, and I believe we truly made a difference in the youths’ lives and inspired them to pursue more for themselves. We tearfully said goodbye to our protégé, making her promise to let us know when she made it home, and wished her the best. Luckily, the journey doesn’t end here - J.U.M.P. weekend is just the beginning of a lasting connection. 

Service Sightings Winners

Congratulations to our winners this week!

This is a photo of Lisa Trejo teaching kids in Costa Rica how to speak English. We traveled to a farm called El-Yue in Costa Rica to help maintain the farm and teach te local kids for our club Global Education Investment.

-- Submitted by: Stefanie Stamatiades, Freshman, Nurning Major

This is a picture of two members of Asian Outlook cleaning up at Project P.A.W. volunteer-run cat shelter in Binghamton. The cats are so starved for attention that they were jumping on and climbing over all of our volunteers, vying for attention.

-- Submitted by: Asian Outlook

            "Service Sightings" is a weekly photo competition put on by the CCE. Submit a photo of you, your friends, or your student group engaged in the act of community service to win! Enter by posting your photo onto the CCE Facebook wall with a short caption explaining your photo, your name, e-mail, year and major. There will be two winners every week, and the winning photos will be promoted both on- and offline.

Service Sightings Winners

Congratulations to our winners this week!

  "This photo was taken at Chow Walk 2011, where the Vietnamese Student Association e-board members joined as a team to walk in order to raise money for feeding the hungry in Binghamton area. "

 -- Vietnamese Student Association

This picture got the most Facebook "Likes" of the week

 

  "I volunteered for SCO Family of Services nonprofit organization. Here is a picture of a volunteer working with a child who is a resident of their St. Christopher's Home, a residential treatment center that serves children and adolescents with developmental disabilities." 

-- Emily Ferrara, Senior, Mathematics Major

          "Service Sightings" is a weekly photo competition put on by the CCE. Submit a photo of you, your friends, or your student group engaged in the act of community service to win! Enter by posting your photo onto the CCE Facebook wall with a short caption explaining your photo, your name, e-mail, year and major. There will be two winners every week, and the winning photos will be promoted both on- and offline.

SUNY VINES Places 2nd in Newman’s Own Foundation Campus Community Service Challenge

The Center for Civic Engagement is extremely proud to announce that SUNY VINES took second place in the Newman’s Own Foundation Campus Community Service Challenge, winning a grant for $15,000 that was announced at the America East Men's Basketball Semifinal on Sunday, March 4th.   

Newman’s Own Foundation teamed up with the America East Conference to support community service among college students in the third annual Newman's Own Foundation Challenge. The Challenge provides grants to non-profit finalists who partner with student groups from each of the America East Conference's nine universities. Student groups and local non-profits worked together to write grant proposals to fund community service projects. The Center for Civic Engagement facilitated the on-campus grant selection process and provided guidance and support to student groups and nonprofits in the development of their grant proposals. The non-profits had a chance to win a minimum grant of $5,000 and up to $25,000.

SUNY VINES, Volunteers Improving Neighborhood Environments, partnered with the local nonprofit organization of the same name, VINES, a program of Earth Day Southern Tier. Placing as a finalist in the Newman's Own Foundation Challenge recognized SUNY VINES for the impact of the combined efforts of Binghamton students with the community members of VINES. With over 200 student volunteers, the student group works to build and maintain community gardens and parks, contributes to workshops on planting and composting, promotes environmental health and coordinates litter cleanups. The community organization leads urban farming projects, promotes community gardening, organizes a summer youth program and educational gardening workshop series.

“It was a real honor to be a recipient of the grant from Newman's Own Foundation,” reflected Sarah Lourdes Lister, President of SUNY VINES and a senior Biology and Environmental Studies double-major. “They were really sincere in their shows of appreciation for the work we do, and I left the conference with a strong sense of pride for the volunteerism and enthusiasm I see in SUNY VINES members.”

SUNY VINES and VINES put in a lot of hard work preparing their grant proposal, and we’re happy to have worked beside them through the process. We’re also very excited to see the projects they develop with the money they were awarded!

Look out for next year’s Newman's Own Foundation Campus Community Service Challenge—your student group could be next year's finalist!

BU Supports Corazón de Dahlia in Peru

Since Dahlia Rissman Graham’s first information session at Binghamton University in March 2011, students, faculty, and staff have found many ways to get involved in supporting the BU alumna's non-profit organization, The Corazón de Dahlia Center for the Promotion of Child & Family Development in Saylla, Peru. The Corazón de Dahlia Center works to provide children and families with opportunities for social and academic enrichment through social development, cultural awareness, literacy proficiency, and mental health.

Dahlia returned to Binghamton in September to give a second information session, which attracted over 20 interested students and solidified the student participation of BU this year.

"I was honored to share my experience with Binghamton students, and awed by the positive response from both the students who attended the information session, and the staff in the CCE office," Dahlia said.
BU's participation efforts began with staff members in the Center for Civic Engagement, who quickly connected with Dahlia and the organization. Two staff members, Christie Zwahlen of the CCE and Kerry Cook of the Office of International Programs, now serve on the Advisory Board for Corazón de Dahlia. In June and September 2011, Dr. Allison Alden, Director of the Center for Civic Engagement, and Kerry Cook traveled to Peru to visit the Center and connect with local organizations and the community.

Early in the Fall semester, a group of senior Bioengineering students began working on a proposal to design a water filtration for Saylla, Peru, as their senior capstone design project. On November 30th, the CCE and several student groups hosted a Casino Game Night that raised nearly $300 to support the project. The Bioengineering group presented their proposal, "Water Filtration System for a Rural Village in Peru (Saylla)," on December 8th.

During International Education Week, November 14-18th, the Center for Civic Engagement’s Service Ambassadors, the Discovery Center, the Jewish Community Center, and Resident Assistants in Newing College hosted a school supply drive to donate to the Center. A group of CCE Service Ambassadors volunteered at the Discovery Center and the Jewish Community Center to teach the children about Corazón de Dahlia and participate in a craft project making Peruvian masks. 

Students in Hinman College also helped fundraise for Corazón de Dahlia. Between an event held by two Resident Assistants and the Hinman College Council's second annual Holiday Party, Hinman residents raised a total of $200 for Corazón de Dahlia through donations, a bake sale, and jewelry-making tables using beads from Peru. 

Corazón de Dahlia also has two interns on campus in social media and marketing and program support. Both interns have worked closely with the CCE Service Ambassadors as well as with the organization itself to make many of the events held this semester greatly successful.
Most recently, paper company MeadWestvaco generously donated over a year's supply of notebooks and folders to Corazón de Dahlia. The donation was made possible by connections in the CCE Advisory Council and the Southern Tier Opportunities Coalition (STOC).

In the Spring 2012 semester, students will be working to charter a student group dedicated to fundraising and advocacy for Corazón de Dahlia on campus through events, volunteering, and educational programs. Corazón de Dahlia is also looking for volunteers and summer interns in a number of areas, including accounting, marketing, public relations, and non-profit management in both the U.S. and in Peru, as well as donations through its Amazon wishlist. To find out more or sign up to volunteer, check out the Corazón de Dahlia website, or email corazondedahlia@gmail.com.