Students take part in the Speak Out against Sexual Assault march on the Colgate Campus.
The Max Shacknai COVE advises 38 student-led, community-based volunteer teams. These teams cover a wide range of issues and help students build an abundance of skills. Approximately 650 students representing about 25 percent of the Colgate population participate regularly in a volunteer team. In Fiscal Year ’13, volunteer teams performed more than 26,500 hours of direct service in the local community.
In addition to regular volunteer service, volunteer teams plan a number of complementary events to increase the work and impact of the team. Here’s a sampling of events volunteer teams planned this year:
- Rethinking Disaster, A disaster simulation event in which participants learned about what it would be like to experience a humanitarian crisis, such as a natural disaster
- Gingerbread House Building Competition brings together children from the local community to build gingerbread houses to raise money for the local Habitat for Humanity chapter
- Annual HomeRun 5k and half-marathon fundraiser to benefit the Madison County Habitat for Humanity Affiliate
- Hunger Banquet simulates global income disparities by demonstrating to participants firsthand how poverty affects others in the world and even here in Madison County
- Candlelight memorial for Alexandra Kogut, an 18-year-old freshman at SUNY Brockport who was beaten to death by her boyfriend in her dorm room to raise awareness about domestic violence
- Take Back the Night March and Speak Out offers a safe and supportive opportunity for sexual violence survivors and the people who love them to publicly affirm their transition from victim to survivor
- Organized a team to participate in the annual America’s Greatest Heart Run and Walk in Utica to raise awareness for heart disease
- Red Cross blood drive, clothing drive, and Donovan’s Pub concert to benefit those affected by Hurricane Sandy