Students volunteering with Head Start welcome local children to Colgate.
The Max Shacknai COVE advises 40 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 ’14, volunteer teams performed more than 25,000 hours of direct service in the local community.
Outcomes of ongoing service projects:
- Improved SAT scores for local high school students
- Improved academic and social confidence of local children
- More than 1500 individuals served at the soup kitchen and food cupboard annually
- More than 400 fire and EMS emergency calls received annually
- More than 800 hours of Victims of Violence hotline response annually
- Contributions to a cohesive, caring 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 that volunteer teams planned this year in addition to their ongoing direct service work:
- The Michael J. Wolk Pre-Health Conference was co-sponsored by COVE, which secured keynote speaker Dr. Fred Ochieng, co-founder of Lwala Community Alliance
- Take Back the Night March and Speak Out offered a safe and supportive opportunity for sexual violence survivors and the people who love them to publicly affirm their transition from victim to survivor
- COVE teams sponsored Project Unbreakable, a national exhibit to increase awareness of the issues surrounding sexual assault and encourage the act of healing through art and photography
- Colgate Hunger Outreach Project and Clean Water Coalition sponsored film screenings to raise awareness on campus for hunger and clean water scarcity
- Clean Water Coalition coordinated a 5K Run/Walk to benefit the Chenango Canal Association
- Several tutoring and mentoring teams organized field trips for their groups to campus and to local sites providing additional learning opportunities for the children with whom they work
- Oxfam organized a panel of intercultural and multi-generational panel of women to celebrate International Women’s Day
- COVE teams sponsored an autism awareness fundraising event at a women’s ice hockey game
- Students arranged the annual HomeRun 5k and half-marathon fundraiser to benefit the Madison County Habitat for Humanity Affiliate
- A COVE-sponsored hunger banquet simulated global income disparities by demonstrating to participants firsthand how poverty affects others in the world and even here in Madison County
- Students organized a disaster response trip to Staten Island to help with Hurricane Sandy recovery
- A Colgate team participated in the annual America’s Greatest Heart Run and Walk in Utica to raise awareness for heart disease
- Colgate teams participated in Relay for Life to benefit cancer research
- COVE teams hosted a fundraising concert to benefit those affected by Typhoon Haiyan