News
NYIT Celebrates Community Service During Day of Giving
April 16, 2018
On April 11, NYIT held its first Day of Giving, which encouraged the NYIT community to participate in community service. More than 800 faculty, staff, and student volunteers signed up for dozens of activities on and near NYIT’s campuses—from building awareness about autism in Old Westbury to feeding the homeless in Manhattan to cleaning up the shoreline of Vancouver more than 3,000 miles away.
See scenes from Day of Giving. Story continues below.
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In Riland Café, President Foley greets volunteers and donates books to the Reach Out and Read program and food to Island Harvest, the largest hunger relief organization on Long Island.
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At the Long Island Children’s Museum, volunteers help paint and clean up the grounds by gardening.
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Volunteers in Manhattan head to Penn Station to work at a mobile soup kitchen run by the organization God on the Move.
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In Old Westbury, volunteers create goodie bags to be sent to local schools and to individuals of all abilities for the club Awareness for All in honor of Autism Awareness Month.
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Volunteers prep meals and distribute care packages to the homeless at Saint Paul the Apostle Church in Manhattan.
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Tables set up in front of 1855 Broadway in Manhattan raised awareness for gender equality, gun legislation advocacy, cancer research, Alternative Spring Break, Relay for Life, Parkinson’s disease, and female entrepreneurs in Tanzania.
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At NYIT-Vancouver, volunteers headed to the nearby shoreline to clean up garbage and other debris.
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President Foley thanks a member of the community who gives blood at a blood drive coordinated by the Community Service Center.
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For N.avigate Y.our C.ollege, participants teamed up with students from NYIT’s Vocational Independence Program (VIP) to complete a scavenger hunt. Here, the group makes dog toys for animals in location shelters.
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Student organizers signed up volunteers for Relay for Life. This is the 10th year NYIT will host the event that raises awareness about cancer research. Relay for Life takes place April 27.
Day of Giving By the Numbers
- More than 800 volunteers (students/staff/faculty), who participated in...
- 30+ community service activities (including those offered by outside organizations), and contributed...
- Nearly 900 community services hours, during which they...
- Served approximately 1900 individuals,
- Raised more than $1000 for various causes, and
- Donated more than 2700 items (food, books, etc.) to organizations.
Amy Bravo, senior director of International and Experiential Education, headed up the day, which was part of the weeklong series of events celebrating the inauguration of NYIT President Hank Foley, Ph.D. “We all have skills needed to improve our communities,” said Bravo. “Watching faculty and staff serve alongside students highlighted how impactful experiential learning is when we are all in it together…Initiatives like this one showcase our commitment to the public purpose of higher education, and I can’t think of anything more meaningful than that.”
In laying out his vision for NYIT’s future, President Foley has noted that the “T” for Technology in our name must be enhanced by our humanity and drive to make the world a better place. Speaking to the nonprofit organizations who partnered with the university for Day of Giving, Foley said, “It makes me so proud to be part of an institution that cares about its communities and has dedicated partners who demonstrate to NYIT students the power of giving back and how they can use their NYIT education to help others.”
By Julie Godsoe
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