Volunteers Stay Green

On Saturday, April 10th, 17 Elmhurst College students and staff served at SCARCE (School and Community Assistance for Recycling and Composting Education), an environmental education organization in Glen Ellyn, IL. While there, the group assisted with the Book Rescue Program, sorting and coding books for shelving in the SCARCE library. These books are donated to low income schools, families, alternative education programs and special education programs. In 2009 the book rescue program gave 11,000 books to nearly 2,000 families during the Back-To-School Fair.

Additionally, many volunteers worked on the Crayon Rescue Program, peeling wrappers, sorting colors, and preparing old, broken crayons to be melted down so that they can become new crayons. The reformed crayons, called Super Crayons, are larger than standard crayons. These Super Crayons are donated to schools and programs that work with children with special needs.

SCARCE does more than just this though. The organization has four other rescue programs as well as other recycling and educational programs for families, schools and communities. SCARCE, started in 1990, is a green organization that strives not only to educate its volunteers and participants, but also activate them to help create a sustainable future.

For more information on SCARCE please visit http://www.bookrescue.org/default.asp

On Saturday, March 13th, 16 members of the Elmhurst College community worked with ASPIRE, an organization that works with and supports individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. The group of volunteers assisted with a craft for residents of an assisted living facility, creating gift bags. The volunteers partnered up with some of the residents and spent the morning socializing and assisting them in designing and decorating their gift bags.

ASPIRE is an organization that strives to assist and support children and adults with disabilities as well as their families. Founded in 1960, ASPIRE has become a profoundly successful organization that supports many educational, social and employment programs as well as assisted living facilities that directly assist more than 1000 children and adults a year.

For more information about ASPIRE please visit http://www.aspireofillinois.org/index.html

Popular Project Makes Big Impact

The trip on Saturday February 13th, 2010 to the Feed My Starving Children facility in Aurora was by far our most popular service project this year! Nearly 40 students volunteered 5 hours of their time on Saturday to help put together specially formulated food packs designed to deliver essential nutrients to children suffering from malnutrition. Although the food packs are not difficult to make, it takes a lot of volunteered time to supply enough packs to support all of FMSC’s feeding programs in nearly 70 countries around the world.

After 5 hours at the FMSC facility, Elmhurst volunteers had made enough food packs to save 55 children from starvation for an entire year. The work, needless to say, was incredibly rewarding for all involved. The FMSC organization as a whole helped deliver more than 96 million meals last year alone, which kept many children protected from malnutrition and starvation. Many of the student volunteers enjoyed the fast-paced work and were more than willing to come back and help feed more children.




For more information about Feed My Starving Children please visit http://www.fmsc.org/Page.aspx?pid=398

Volunteering Makes the Holidays Brighter

In spirit of the holidays, 18 students volunteered their time at the Oakbrook Terrace Corps of the Salvation Army on Saturday December 12, 2009. The students helped sort through food donations and create boxes of food to be distributed locally to both families in need and homeless shelters.

Some students during the sorting process were disappointed to see the quality of the food that had been donated. Volunteer Noelle Sereis said that “the food that is donated to food pantries is not uncommonly cheap, expired or damaged in some way”, which makes the sorting of the food an important part of the process of creating the meal boxes. Although the incoming donations may not have all been of the best quality, after a few hours of work the students were able to assemble many boxes of food to make the holidays a little better for local families and shelters.

The Salvation Army does a lot more than just collect and distribute food. They also support actions against human trafficking, hold youth camps, assist the elderly, families of prisoners and promote many other charitable programs. Although only one section of The Salvation Army’s mission, food collection and distribution is one of the staple programs during the holiday season, making the time volunteered by students all the more valuable in keeping this tradition of giving going.



For more information on the Salvation Army please visit:
http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/www_usn_2.nsf/vw-local/Home

EC Visits Elmhurst Extended Care Center

On Saturday November 7th, 2009 14 students volunteered their afternoon to help facilitate and participate in a few games of BINGO at Elmhurst Extended Care Center. The students helped hand out BINGO cards and call out numbers as well as spend some time visiting with the residents.

Elmhurst Extended Care Center offers extended care and rehabilitation services for post-operative patients as well as Alzheimer’s care. The center offers activities for its residences every day that include outings into the community as well as other social, recreational and spiritual events.

The volunteers were certainly appreciated at the BINGO game on Saturday. According to Noelle Sereis, one of the 14 volunteers, “the residents were excited to see us” and some even took time to share photos and stories with the volunteers. Sereis added that “it felt rewarding to know that we helped brighten their day“.




For more information about the Elmhurst Extended Care Center go to http://www.elmhurstextendedcarecenter.com/.

October's Service Project Stays Close to Home

The October service project, which took place on Saturday the 19th 2009, turned out to be a successful part of EC’s Family Weekend. The 27 students who signed up for this project didn’t have to travel far to volunteer at St. Mary’s Cemetery which is located across the street from Langhorst Field and West Hall. The helpful crew of students spent four hours getting the cemetery ready for the upcoming winter months.

Usually this clean-up process is handled by Colleen McEvoy who started caring for the cemetery because sister is buried there. However, in recent months this task has become more difficult to complete on her own, so student volunteers helped to spruce up the Cemetery by raking, weeding and cleaning up the grounds.

The work was a bit difficult, and the site was not necessarily the most uplifting, but many students felt rewarded in knowing that by donating just a few hours of their time they not only saved Colleen McEvoy days worth of work, but also helped the community by helping maintain the cemetery. Keep an eye out for service opportunities in the future, as Elmhurst College and the Office of Leadership, Service and Engagement will continue to plan service trips to help McEvoy care for the cemetery.

Kicking Off the New Year with a New Fair

Twenty Elmhurst College students helped volunteer at the first Annual Cantigny Green Fair that was held on Saturday, September 26 at Cantigny Park in Wheaton. The fair was sponsored by Cantigny Park, part of the McCormick Foundation, and SCARCE, an organization dedicated to educating and inspiring people about Eco-friendliness. The Fair was designed to celebrate Eco-friendly practices as well as to educate the community and local businesses on how we can continue to think green.

The 20 Elmhurst College students who volunteered their time for this fair were asked to help handle the assortment of e-trash (electronics like DVD players, radios, computers, etc.) that had been donated to be recycled as a part of the Fair’s Recycling Extravaganza. The Extravaganza was held to help keep useful or recyclable items out of landfills. The Extravaganza not only sorted through electronics, but also took vinyl records, inkjet cartridges, water filters, scrap metal and old or damaged American flags so they could be properly retired.

The students helped load the donations onto a converted flatbed, then sort through the various types of equipment. Although the work was not necessarily exciting, Junior Leif Mueller says “the experience was great… it was something worth doing on a Saturday afternoon”. It was great for the fair as well, because as the student volunteers were handling the trash donations, other volunteers were able to help run the “FashionEcoNista” Show, the organic and local Farmers Market and several Eco-activities for kids.

The Green Fair turned out to be a big success, with over seventy five vendors and even more volunteers helping to bring education and insight to the community about thinking green and creating sustainable communities. Hopefully even more students will be able to volunteer next year to continue this new tradition at Cantigny Park!



For more information about Cantigny Park please visit http://www.cantigny.org/
For more information about the McCormick Foundation please visit http://www.mccormickfoundation.org/
For more information about SCARCE please visit http://www.bookrescue.org/

A new year, a new schedule!

We've got a lot of great service projects planned for the 2008-2009 school year. Details about each unique site will be added as the project approaches; however, websites have been included so you can learn more about the great work of the organizations. Don't forget to save the following dates!

• Saturday, September 13th - Aspire (limit: 15 people)
  9:00 am - 1:00 pm
  

• Saturday, October 18th - Blue Jays Care Service Project - Northern Illinois Food Bank (limit: 60 people, age: 14 and over)
  8:00 am - 12:00 pm
  

• Saturday, November 15th - Family Weekend Service Project - TBA

• Saturday, February 14th - Feed My Starving Children
  1:00 pm - 5:00 pm

• Saturday, March 14th - TBA

• Saturday, April 18th - TBA

A light breakfast, snack, OR lunch will be provided for each project. Transportation and any needed supplies will also be supplied.

Beginning with the September MSP, we will require each participant to complete a liability waiver with insurance information prior to the project. Please stop by room 240 of the Frick Center to pick one up. You can also call Laura Wilmarth Tyna, Director of Leadership and Civic Engagement, at (630) 617-3687 for more information.

Service at We Grow Dreams

We Grow Dreams Greenhouse and Garden Center is a not-for-profit organization that was created to provide job training and work opportunities to individuals with developmental disabilities. They invite individuals to become team members, contributing to the success of the "business" in many ways.

Despite the cold, wet weather, we had a great service project with We Grow Dreams on Saturday, April 12th. What a great group for sticking it out! While we were there, the group helped with some outdoor clean-up and preparation of the indoor retail area.

Since We Grow Dreams was started a little over 3 years ago, they've taken steps to improve their facility each year; however, it has been a big job. It was great that our group could help them move towards their goals. They are always looking for individuals or groups interested in helping them make progress, so hopefully others will jump on board to work with this great organization!

For more information about We Grow Dreams, click on the link: http://www.wegrowdreams.org. To see all of the pictures from the day, click on the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/laura.wilmarth/AprilMonthlyServiceProject

April Monthly Service Project

Sign up today to participate in the April Monthly Service Project!

Due to a conflict with the originally scheduled community organization, the group will be working with We Grow Dreams (http://www.wegrowdreams.org/). This unique organization provides job training and employment for individuals with disabilities. Participants will help in the greenhouse, as We Grow Dreams prepares for the growing and selling season.

What: April Monthly Service Project
When: Saturday, April 12th 9:00 am until 1:30 pm
Where: We Grow Dreams (located in West Chicago)

Transportation, a light breakfast, and lunch will be provided. Contact Laura Wilmarth Tyna at wilmarthtynal@elmhurst.edu, (630) 617-3687, or room 240 Frick Center to sign up!

Help at the Shamrock Shuffle!

Elmhurst College was recently contacted regarding an Elmhurst contingent for the first water stop of the Shamrock Shuffle on Sunday, March 30. For those organizations/clubs looking for service hours, this is a great way to give back to the community while having a great time.

Here are the details:

Event: 2008 Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle

Date: Sunday, March 30, 2008

Location: First Water Station on State Street from Washington to Adams

Carpool: Yes, from Bryan Middle School in Elmhurst at 6:15 a.m.

Volunteer Check in Downtown: 7:30 a.m. (race starts at 9:30 a.m.)

Job Description: Position tables. Fill cups with Hinckley Springs Water and Gatorade. Stack cups and distribute to runners. Rake and bag used cups. Volunteers Needed: 125-150+

Perks: Great t-shirt and even better time with friends.

All are welcome so invite your family, friends and neighbors. Mark Robinson will be coordinating the pre-race day volunteers so please R.S.V.P. to him with your preferred shirt size ASAP. He can be reached at:

Mark Robinson

mcr1124@comcast.net

708-395-5959

You can also sign up in person at Dick Pond Athletics at 124 N. York St. in Elmhurst during normal business hours or contact Bob Richards, race day coordinator, at bobnanrun@sbcglobal.net

Service at Greencastle of Elmhurst

On Saturday, March 8th 13 EC students and staff, along with 5 friends from the Saint Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church, spent time at Greencastle of Elmhurst. This independent living community for older adults is only 1 mile from the College and boasts a number of wonderful residents.

About 15 Greencastle residents came out to spend time with the group. People played Bingo!, decorated pots for seed planting, baked and decorated sugar cookies, and played a couple of mean hands of Uno. All-in-all, it was a great visit. Here are a few photos of the day (above: EC and SVF group; right: Audrey, Sarah, and Allison with a friendly Greencastle resident; left: Andrea and Audrey with a woman who just turned 100!). To see more photos, click on the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/laura.wilmarth/MarchMonthlyServiceProject

Thanks to all of the folks who made this fun day possible!

Service at the Northern Illinois Food Bank

Thanks to the great group of volunteers who assisted on Saturday, February 16th for the the February Monthly Service Project at the Northern Illinois Food Bank! We had a great group of 14 students who packaged corn and mixed vegetables for distribution to local families in need. Cumulatively, the group served for over 40 hours. Congratulations on your great work!

To see additional pictures of the project, click on the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/laura.wilmarth/FebruaryMonthlyServiceProject

AIDS Run & Walk Chicago

On Saturday, September 20, 2008 over 7,000 thousand Chicagoans will join the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) in Grant Park to stomp out AIDS by participating in, and pledging to, the eighth-annual AIDS Run & Walk Chicago. The involvement of Chicago area undergraduate and graduate students, as well as their campus organizations, is critical not only to the success of this event, but their advancement as civically engaged leaders in the Chicago community. AIDS Run & Walk Chicago presents a wonderful opportunity to juxtapose service and education at your institution, while raising awareness about the disproportionate impact HIV/AIDS has upon the 13-24 year-old demographic.

With this you and your colleagues are invited to the AIDS Run & Walk Chicago Collegiate Kick-Off Breakfast on Thursday, February 21, 2008 at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. This breakfast, specifically designed to engage Chicago-area colleges and universities, will provide you with all the details you need to form a team at your school, and discuss any ideas you may have to make AIDS Run & Walk Chicago as meaningful for your students as it is for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago.

Date: Thursday, February 21, 2008
Time: 8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Location: AIDS Foundation of Chicago
411 S. Wells, 2^nd Floor (Large Conference Room)
Chicago, IL 60607

RSVP by: Monday, February 18, 2008 to Katie O’Malley, komalley@aidschicago.org

If you have any questions regarding the Collegiate Kick-Off Breakfast or AIDS Run & Walk Chicago, please do not hesitate to be in touch with Katie O'Malley at: (312) 334-0935 or komalley@aidschicago.org.

PADS Needs YOUR Help!

PADS (Public Action to Deliver Shelter) is in need of volunteers for a number of upcoming dates. The program provides food and shelter to individuals in need in two areas close to the College: 1) Elmhurst Presbyterian Church and 2) St. Alexis Church in Bensenville.

Volunteers are needed to assist with evening and night programs, including set up and/ or take down of sleeping pads, serving dinner/ breakfast, and monitoring guests during the night. Help is needed on the following nights:

Elmhurst Presbyterian
-February 23rd
-March 8th and 22nd
-April 12th and 26th

St. Alexis
-February 23rd- 24th
-March 22nd- 23rd
-April 26th- 27th

If you're able to help, please contact Dr. Mick Savage in the Center for Professional Excellence at micks@elmhurst.edu.

Elmhurst Great Western Prairie- Work Days

Are you interested in working outdoors? Do you enjoy nature? Is working in a group ideal for you? Then come out to help with the Elmhurst Great Western Prairie! These are the upcoming work days for 2008:

Feb. 16 Brush cutting, some seed spreading

April 19 Brush cutting, clean-up

May 17 Spring planting

June 21 Weeding and seed picking (porcupine grass)

June 28 Weeding (mostly parsnip)

July 19 Weeding (mostly parsnip and ragweed)

Aug. 16 Weeding (mostly ragweed)

For questions or to sign up, contact David Price at dprice@epd.org or call 630-993-8909 or Keith Olson at keitholson@usa.net or call 630-834-7357.

Spring Monthly Service Project dates

The Spring 2008 semester is just around the corner, so mark your calendar for these upcoming Monthly Service Projects.

Saturday, February 16th- 8:00 am to 1:30 pm
Northern Illinois Food Bank
Participants will assist in sorting and packaging food that will later be delivered to local hot meal sites to feed hungry people in Northern Illinois. Part of Union Board's Winter Fest celebration (February 11th- 16th).

Saturday, March 8th- 9:00 am to 1:00 pm
Greencastle of Elmhurst Retirement Community
Participants will spend time with residents of this adult living facility, providing opportunities for engagement, such as playing board games, baking and decorating cookies, or starting seeds for spring garden planting.

Saturday, April 12th- Times to be announced
Chicago Interfaith Committee on Worker Issues
Participants will become more educated about a new law that impacts individual workers' rights and help to share information about the law in the local community.

Saturday, May 10th- Times to be announced
Humanitarian Service Project
Participants will help prepare for the annual Feed the Kids campaign, which provides food to area families with children during the summer months.

Transportation will be provided for all Monthly Service Projects. A light breakfast and snacks OR lunch will also be provided. Contact Laura Wilmarth, Director of Leadership and Civic Engagement, at wilmarthtynal@elmhurst.edu or (630) 617-3687 to sign up!