Events Calendar

Volunteer from your dorm, work, or home by writing letters, organized by Jacob Cramer BF' 22, founder of Love for Our Elders. You can write to one or more elders from around the world who are struggling with loneliness and isolation. Tell them about yourself, maybe share a joke or a riddle and let them know that they are loved.

This is a perfect service activity for people practicing social distancing and/or cannot participate in-person. Write your letters any day, celebrate on May 7 for Yale Day of Service.

Please find instructions for letter writing on the Love for Our Elders website. 

Contact: Jacob Cramer '22

The Mercy Learning Center’s mission is to provide literacy and life skills training to low income women in Bridgeport, CT.  The staff serves about 1,000 women per year,  from 50 countries of origin, and teaches English, Math, Science, Social Studies/Civics and computing/technology to prepare students for High School Equivalency diplomas, U.S. Citizenship exams, job interviews and college careers.  MLC also offers social services, counseling, food and diaper assistance and childcare.

Google Meet Call, May 5 @ 12pm ET: For anyone wishing to learn more about The Mercy Learning Center from Jane Ferreira, MLC CEO, there will be a Google Meet call on Thursday May 5 at noon EST for 30 minutes, email Lee Race for open invite.

In Person Drop Off: May 24, Bridgeport, CT 
For those interested in an in-person drop off on Tuesday May 24, please email Lee Race.  We will be brining a large local delivery of Food Pantry and Toiletry Items. Everyone local is welcome to join and meet the staff.

Donation Drive:   
MLC staff are in urgent need of donations and family friendly Food Pantry and Toiletries for their members for at home use. CEO Jane Ferreira, Yale MAR, Theology Class of ‘89 often says, “When you educate a woman, you educate a family” and all donations will stretch across generations.  There are multiple ways to contribute below followed by MLC’s Non Profit information for tax deductions.

Cash/Credit Donations direct to MLC site noting YDOS22; Please note YDOS22 in comments for tracking

Food Pantry:  
Non Perishable Healthy Foods can be sent via Amazon and Walmart for Monday to Friday delivery dates at any time to:
The Mercy Learning Center, 637 Park Avenue, Bridgeport, CT 06604-4611
For these sites, select gift receipt and note YDOS22 if possible, for tracking

Favorites of their families would be healthy cereal, soup, canned tuna, non perishable Mac and Cheese, Pasta and Sauce, canned vegetables, healthy crackers.  
Note: NO Peanut Butter please due to nut allergies.

Toiletries:
Ship to above and note YDOS22.
Items urgently needed include generic toiletries: toothbrushes (adult and child), toothpaste, floss, soap, shampoo, deodorant, baby wipes, tampons and sanitary napkins.

In the spirit of Yale Day of Service please consider the above dates as guidelines. Donations are welcome at any time.  

Social Sharing:
If you’d like to include a comment, photo or donation as part of a 2022 Yale Day of Service post for MLC we will do please email Lee Race '93 MPPM and Kylie Race and we will post on a wrap up in late May for a final push in early June as they go into summer season.

We reprise our 2020 and 2021 Yale CLE Virtual Day of Service project contributing letters of love to the elderly in need of uplift and encouragement.  In 2020, we helped set a record for the nonprofit started by Jacob Cramer, '22 (Ben Franklin) -- 14,234 letters of love sent to 233 senior communities in the United States, UK, Australia and Canada. The Cleveland effort sparked national and international interest. See some of the photos of appreciative recipients, letter writers and helpers at the project's Instagram account.

This virtual project is again part of our Yale CLE Day of Service, now marking its 14th year. So, take a moment anytime in the month of May to handwrite 14 more letters of love, warmth and encouragement (large, legible writing please!), keeping away from religion, politics and personal topics, illustrate with colorful art, if you care to do so, and mail with their envelopes to

Love for Our Elders
P.O. Box 24248
Cleveland, Ohio 44124

Visit the organization's website to see examples of great letters and learn more about the organization. Or reach out to Jacob Cramer.

Co-Sponsors: Yale Alumni Association of Cleveland, AAAYA Northeast Ohio Chapter, GSAA, YBAA

Join Yale Day of Service co-chair Rob Greenly '83 MBA to create "Birthdays in a Box" by wrapping large boxes and filling them with items needed to celebrate a child’s birthday in a homeless shelter.

Birthday Wishes’ mission is to provide birthday parties to children experiencing homelessness. Birthday Wishes believes that all children, regardless of their living situation, should celebrate their birthdays joyfully, surrounded by family, friends, and others who care.  You can help make this happen for those children!

We will gather virtually via Zoom on Sunday May 1st at 1:00pm to watch a video about Birthday Wishes, get instructions on how to build a Birthday in a Box, and then build our boxes together from the comfort of our own home. 

**This project involves some upfront shopping on your part.** 

Review the instructions and shopping list before May 1.

After your box is built you can drop it off at Rob Greenly's house in Newton, MA anytime before 12noon on Tues, May 3rd (address given on Sunday, May 1st). Or you can join other Yalies on Tuesday, May 3rd at 1:30pm as we drop off our boxes together at Birthday Wishes HQ at 24 Superior Dr, Suite B1, Natick, MA 01760.

Details for the Tuesday, May 3 delivery event

Contact: Rob Greenly '83 MBA

Celebrate the voices of youth living with serious illnesses and let them know that their stories matter! 

Hear Your Song is a national nonprofit co-founded by Yale undergraduates in 2014 with the mission of empowering children and teens with serious illnesses and complex health needs to make their voices heard through collaborative songwriting. Since the start of the pandemic, Hear Your Song has expanded to serve kids around the country and beyond, helping over 250 kids write songs about anything they want in any style they imagine, from rock anthems about loving pasta to jazz tunes about living with epilepsy. 

At this virtual event, you'll have the opportunity to give feedback to our youth songwriters through written, audio, and video messages that let kids know their songs and stories have been heard! You'll also be able to learn more about Hear Your Song's Yale-driven history, from our founders to our current undergraduate volunteer community to our Programs Fellows supported by the Yale Glee Club Associates. 

This is a family-friendly event, too — kids ages 6 and up are more than welcome to participate and explore the songs! 

Contact: Dan Rubins '16

Invisible Hands was founded in March, 2020 amid the height of the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to delivery necessities to elderly, sick, homebound, and people with disabilities. Within a few months, the Yalie-founded organization had recruited 10,000+ volunteers who delivered more than $1Million in food and medical supplies throughout New York, Long Island, Westchester, New Jersey, and Philadelphia.

In this Day of Service project, volunteers will make phone calls to thank to the most loyal volunteers who support Invisible Hands. Invisible hands will provide a script for these phone calls, and callers can participate from anywhere with phone/internet access. 

Registrants will receive a Zoom link via email the day before the event. Computer is recommended (not tablet or mobile phone) in addition to a phone. Minimum age recommended is 22+.

Who's Coming?

Contact: Paul Peña '13

Invisible Hands was founded in March, 2020 amid the height of the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to delivery necessities to elderly, sick, homebound, and people with disabilities. Within a few months, the Yalie-founded organization had recruited 10,000+ volunteers who delivered more than $1Million in food and medical supplies throughout New York, Long Island, Westchester, New Jersey, and Philadelphia.

In this Day of Service project, volunteers will make phone calls to thank to the most loyal volunteers who support Invisible Hands. Invisible hands will provide a script for these phone calls, and callers can participate from anywhere with phone/internet access. 

Registrants will receive a Zoom link via email the day before the event. Computer is recommended (not tablet or mobile phone) in addition to a phone. Minimum age recommended is 22+.

Who's Coming?

Contact: Paul Peña '13

Join the Yale Club of Silicon Valley for a virtual safari in Northern Kenya to help study and conserve reticulated giraffe.  

Across Africa, all giraffe populations have declined by about 40% and the reticulated giraffe by 70%. The main drivers behind the decline appear to be habitat loss and fragmentation, land degradation, and poaching. This project is coordinated by the San Diego Zoo wildlife alliance .

Using the Zooniverse platform, we will classify images from motion activated trail cameras. after you register, we will send you the Zooniverse link. You can then identify animals on the website

Who's Coming?

Contact: Elizabeth Leary '14 MSN, '17 DNP

Celebrate the voices of youth living with serious illnesses and let them know that their stories matter! 

Hear Your Song is a national nonprofit co-founded by Yale undergraduates in 2014 with the mission of empowering children and teens with serious illnesses and complex health needs to make their voices heard through collaborative songwriting. Since the start of the pandemic, Hear Your Song has expanded to serve kids around the country and beyond, helping over 250 kids write songs about anything they want in any style they imagine, from rock anthems about loving pasta to jazz tunes about living with epilepsy. 

At this virtual event, you'll have the opportunity to give feedback to our youth songwriters through written, audio, and video messages that let kids know their songs and stories have been heard! You'll also be able to learn more about Hear Your Song's Yale-driven history, from our founders to our current undergraduate volunteer community to our Programs Fellows supported by the Yale Glee Club Associates. 

This is a family-friendly event, too — kids ages 6 and up are more than welcome to participate and explore the songs! 

Contact: Dan Rubins '16