A Great Opportunity!

Wednesday, November 30, 2011



(Click Image to Make Larger)

Campus Food Pantries

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

What do you think about this!?


Walk for Warmth 2011

For the past 20 years, the Windham Area Interfaith Ministry (WAIM) non-profit has held the Walk for Warmth to raise money for their energy assistance program to keep families warm in the cold winter months. Walkers could participate individually or as a team. Each person participating was asked to raise a minimum of $20. Preceding the 2 mile walk around Willimantic was a beautiful interfaith service at St. Joseph's Church. RA Danny from Laurel Hall led a team of students at the walk. Additionally, RAs Leon from Burr, Angelica from Crandall, and Courtnie from Occum brought volunteers to help set up for the event, play educational games with kids to raise their awareness about poverty, and help clean up! The event as a whole raised $27,900!

Walkers on Main St.
Examples of the signs throughout the route!
Volunteers!

Members of the Laurel Hall team!

To learn more about WAIM, check out their website! http://waimct.org/

Eastern's 5th Annual Day of Giving!

Monday, November 28, 2011

This past Wednesday, November 23rd, we hosted Eastern's 5th Annual Day of Giving! The event was coordinated by People Helping People's Kate Harner and Scott Nolan alongside the CCE AmeriCorps VISTAs, Brit Cava and Kristina Scherber. This annual event is a Thanksgiving meal for those in need living in our community. On weekends starting at the end of October we held food drives at grocery stores to raise non-perishable food items and money for the food bank. This year we:

FED 456 PEOPLE!
COLLECTED 5,558 NON-PERISHABLE FOOD ITEMS!
RAISED $538.81 DOLLARS!
HAD 30 STUDENT VOLUNTEERS!

All our volunteers!
The buffet!
Co-Sponsored by Chartwells!
A family enjoying the meal!



Press Covering the Event:



http://www.wili-am.com/images/audio/ecsu_day_of_giving_nov_21_2011.wma

Find us in the November 25th issue of the Willimantic Chronicle & Channel 3!

A Tour of our Resource Library!

You may not have known but here at the CCE we have a library full of opportunities for YOU to change the world! We have tons of resources available on:
  • PeaceCorps (including tips on how to make the best application & nail the interview!)
  • AmeriCorps Programs (VISTA, NCCC, State & National)
  • Graduate School Programs (tons of brochures on public service related degrees)
  • Volunteering Abroad Information
  • City Year
  • The Student Conservation Association
  • The Institute on Philanthropy & Voluntary Service
  • Oxfam International
  • Human Rights Exchange in Africa
  • Bread for the City
  • Hole in the Wall Gang Camp
And MANY more! So whether you're looking for something to do now, this summer, next year, or for grad school and jobs--stop in! The library has 2 comfy couches and a chair so you can browse the fliers and map out how you'll change the world!


A door to opportunities!
TONS of free resources!

A view of the room!
Enjoy the comfy atmosphere!

Purple Team! & Why It's Awesome

Tuesday, November 15, 2011


What is Purple Team?
It is an on-going program held at Windham Middle School and Windham High School where Eastern students mentor and serve as role models to school children who are English Language Learners (ELL). The program started last year with about 15 chilren and due to it's success, it has drastically increased to 80 students this year! There are now about 30 mentors from Eastern. Last year, the volunteers helped students plant trees and brought them for a visit at Eastern's campus (the kids loved it!)

One of the best parts of Purple Team is that it aims to be a consistent service for school children. Volunteers from Eastern will start with children in middle school, and return to work with the same child or children the next year as they move up a grade. Our own CCE student worker, Todd Aviles, worked with 8th graders from the Middle School last year. Now, he has moved up with them to the High School. Todd is a coordinator of the program and he says that "the whole idea is to have an ongoing mentorship that continues with each new generation, and right now I am currently trying to get mentors to come and help me at the high school."

Want to get learn more or get involved with Purple Team?
It is a great opportunity to make a positive difference in the lives of children in Windham. You will be able to help them progress and become equipped for success as they prepare for high school. You do not need to speak Spanish to be a mentor, although it can be beneficial to share a language with the students. We have 3 different shifts that you can volunteer for (Mon-Fri, 7:30am-9:20am, 8:50am-11:25am, or 11:10am-2:25pm). Plus, the CCE provides you with transportation to your shift! If you're interested in getting involved in this program or another mentoring program, please e-mail cce@easternct.edu, come visit the Center for Community Engagement on the 2nd floor of Wood Services, or check out our mentoring opportunities on our website here.


Thanks to Todd Aviles for contributing to this post!

A "Gleaning" Opportunity!

Monday, November 14, 2011

Did you know that there is more than enough food on earth to sufficiently feed every single person? Despite this, there are still millions of people who go hungry every day. At the Center for Community Engagment, one of our missions is to reduce the number of people who are going hungry in our community. One of the ways that we are doing this is through "gleanings."

Gleaning is the act of collecting leftover crops from farmer's fields that would otherwise be left in the fields to rot or be plowed under after harvest. Some ancient cultures promoted gleaning as an early form of a welfare system.

Gleanings allow us to go to local farms and take the crops that the farmers know they will not sell. Our first gleaning was at Oak Haven Farm right down the road in Scotland, CT. We got to go apple picking and collected over 200 pounds of apples and donated them to our local Salvation Army and Catholic Charities right down the road. It was a great opportunity to save fruit that otherwise would have been wasted! Not to mention, fresh vegetables and fruits are not always readily available to those in poverty.



Special thanks to Oak Haven Farm for letting us come down and pick apples, they even let us pick more than we originally anticipated! And a big thank you to our volunteers, Nicole and Israel!

Interschool Walk for Warmth: Recap!

About 390 children convened at Windham Middle School on Wednesday, October 26th to learn about poverty. The children came from afterschool programs at Windham Middle, Natchaug, Sweeney, North Windham, and Windham Center. The children were able to walk around the track in order to earn tickets to play poverty-related games. Some activities included face painting, bracelet making, paper chain, a guessing game, scavenger hunt and more. Children were also able to receive prizes for doing certain activities. The favorite station seemed to be the popcorn machine, where there was a consistent line of kids waiting to get their popcorn from our two dedicated volunteers at the station!












A total of 53 volunteers from Eastern helped out at the event! Great job volunteers. Take a look at the list of our volunteers below:


Ashley Lovett, Ian McGlynn, Kerri Schuster, Michael Downs, Kaitlin Baldi, Jessica Sammataro, Katherina Poltorak, Latiqua Patterson, Steven Clayton, Laura Bean, Keith Sunthorn, Shannon Shultz, Emily Yu, Stephanie Gionfriddo, Avery Schena, Stephanie Sakelarakis, Jean Chery, Aaron Bernstein, Clif LeSure, Federica Bucca, Yunchu Liu, Bryant Collazo, Despina Messologitis, Emily Jack, Kate Harner, Taylor Scalia, James Boyle, Angelica Hribko, Alyssiah Wiley, Lesly Damour, Rachel Murad, Tom Takacs, Alan Nunez, Stef Burelle, Ben Glick, Samantha Clifford, Bethany Ingraham, Steve Lukaszewski, Ethan Linder, Shannon McCormick, Courtney Gendron, Tasheenah Brown, Megan Sniffin, Brittany Graff, Colleen Gomola, William McLaughlin, Melissa Symolon, Wiley Dawson, Jon Yackel, Max Goto, Brit Cava, Kristina Scherber & Lauren Greeney
Special thanks to Kate Harner, James Boyle, Wiley Dawson, Melissa Symolon and Katee Baldi for their hardwork as Walk for Warmth Committee members!

Plus, Eastern Volunteers made the news again! Click here to check out the article in the Norwich Bulletin on the Interschool Walk for Warmth.

Writers of Social Justice and Positive Change Prize Nominations

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Do you know a high school or college student with a passion for writing for social justice
 and positive change?

Complementing the Harriet Beecher Stowe Prize, presented in 2011 to Sheryl WuDunn and Nicholas D. Kristof for Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, the Student Stowe Prize will be awarded in 2012 to recognize outstanding writing by United States high school and college students that is making a tangible impact on a social justice issue critical to contemporary society.  
 
More information on the Student Stowe Prize and how to enter can be found here on our website

Public Service Panel Tomorrow!


The CCE is proud to announce our annual Public Service Panel. Please join us this Thursday, November 10th from 3pm-5pm in the Student Center Theatre. The panel is for students interested in public service to find out what opportunities are available to them now or when they graduate. Panelist include representatives from:
  • PeaceCorps
  • Public Allies
  • City Year
  • Student Conservation Association
  • AmeriCorps NCCC
  • AmeriCorps VISTA
  • The Fund for American Studies
  • Hole in the Wall Gang Camp
They will share the process of joining these organizations and their personal experience followed by an open Q&A session from the audience. Resources will be available from each organization for students to take home.

DoSomething.org is hiring

Thursday, November 3, 2011

If you haven't checked out DoSomething.org we recommend you do so!
DoSomething.org is one of the largest organizations in the U.S. that helps young people rock causes they care about.   What is something you care about?

They have some pretty cool job openings.  The most unique job title I have even seen is the The Head of Fun (that’s right, the head of fun!). This person is responsible for maintaining DoSomething.org’s super awesome culture and making sure everyone on staff is happy, productive and always growing and learning

I absolutely love the rules below. Wouldn't you want to work at a place that values YOUNG PEOPLE like yourself?

Rules we live by:
  1. Believe in young people. Young people can lead today. We don’t require old people.
  2. Trust young people. We provide reliable, easy to access information and activation strategies, but young people decide for themselves what to do.
  3. Celebrate young people. We think all measurable contributions from young people are valuable.
  4. Listen to young people. We must always respect their varied abilities and time constraints.
  5. Value young people. Our programs and products are free. We’re not after young people’s money; we want their passion, time, and creativity.