This year marked the 25th anniversary of the Public Service Center at Cornell and its commemoration began with over 35 Cornell Cares Day activities nationwide. Hosted by regional clubs, Cornellians came together for projects ranging from serving lunch to the homeless in Philadelphia to packaging diapers for low-income families in Lenexa, Kansas. There are other community service activities coming throughout the year, including a spring encore of Cornell Cares Day on April 29—save the date! A few more Cornell Cares Days are scheduled for later this month; see if there’s one in if your area by checking the events listing.
Regional Clubs strive to connect students, alumni, parents, and friends with Cornell wherever they live and work; the annual Cornell Cares Day events are a mainstay of this mission. Susan Levy ’86 remarked on the impact of this structure when considering the Cornell Club of Northern New Jersey’s Cornell Cares Day, noting that the most valuable aspect was the work “that nearly 100 Cornell friends and family accomplished together, with alumni from the 60’s to today, current students, and future Cornellians as young as 12 years old.”
Stacy Wright ’90 echoed this sentiment: “I love that we are able to bring students together with alumni and families to not only connect and have a great time, but to help our community and be able to have such tangible proof of the good we’ve done.”
These programs also underscore the Public Service Center’s commitment to service learning and active citizenship. The Cornell Club of Greater Philadelphia volunteered with the Sunday Breakfast Rescue Mission, an organization dedicated to serving the homeless. Said MT Condosta ’14 of the experience: “hearing stories about how men in the program were able to overcome their past issues and get on their feet again made the activities we did well worth the time we put in… The staff and men at Sunday Breakfast were very kind and grateful, showing the side of homelessness that most don’t get to see.”
Regardless of what project your area club completed, Cornell and your communities thank you for taking the time to share your enthusiasm for improving the world around you!