Events Calendar

We will be assisting the Northern Ohio Red Cross with their Sound the Alarm campaign, part of an effort to install free smoke alarms in at-risk communities across the country. No training is needed. We will assemble at the Estabrook Rec Center in Cleveland's Old Brooklyn neighborhood and will be assigned to small 2- and 3-person teams, ideally as a Yale alum group or groups.

Masks can be worn and must be worn if households ask, and will be provided if you don't bring one.

Please register using the link provided. Please also register via the American Red Cross using these instructions:

• Visit the the Red Cross, Sound the Alarm website for zip code 44109
• Scroll to the Saturday, May 14 listings
• Select May in the event calendar or list view and register to volunteer - STA 2022: Cleveland, OH {Old Brooklyn} In the vicinity of Pearl Rd & Spokane. Cleveland OH 44109; Saturday May 14, 2022, 9:00 AM-1:00 PM.
• Current Red Cross volunteers will be prompted to Log in to Volunteer Connection with your email and password. New Sound the Alarm volunteers will Create a Red Cross ID (Account). If you need assistance, please contact your Northern Ohio Region Volunteer Services team; 216-431-3328 by phone or email.

Please note that you may participate in Red Cross events if you are not vaccinated against COVID-19 so long as you wear a mask, and that you wear a mask at the request of a client regardless of your vaccination status. Masks will be provided at each event. 

Co-Sponsored by: Yale CLE, Yale Alumni Association of Cleveland, AAAYA Northeast Ohio Chapter, Graduate School Alumni Association, Yale Black Alumni Association

Who's Coming?

Contact: Betsy Sullivan '74, '76 MA

The Family Pantry of Cape Cod needs volunteers to help prepare their backyard garden for planting.  Your efforts with the Yale Club of Cape Cod will help the Pantry to supplement their food sources for those in need. The Family Pantry of Cape Cod will provide volunteers with the proper tools needed to help foster their garden.  Bringing boots and gloves is recommended.  

Who's Coming?

Contact: Mark Crociati '88 Mus.M

Volunteers will be assisting People Serving People's Housekeeping Department with general upkeep of the shelter. Jobs may include painting, sweeping, washing walls, vacuuming, and other tasks to keep the shelter looking fresh and clean.

People Serving People is the largest and most comprehensive, family-focused shelter in Minnesota. What distinguishes People Serving People from other emergency shelters is the broad range of on-site programs and services designed to address common barriers facing homeless families. Their ultimate goal is to permanently end a family's homelessness with one visit to their shelter. At the beginning of the project, we will be given a tour or shown the People Serving People video to provide us with a better understanding of the organization.

* Please wear closed-toe shoes, long pants, and clothes you don't mind getting dirty.
* Kids must be at least 12 years old. Adult supervision is requested.
* Some lifting, bending, and standing in one place for at least 20 minutes at a time may be involved

Who's Coming?

Project Coordinator: Ron Goldser '75

Note:
There will be a potluck meal after the May 21st Day of Service events starting at roughly 12 noon.  Volunteers from May 14th and 21st are welcome.  The potluck will be held at the home of a YAANW board member.  All volunteers are welcome to come and to share conversation and comradery.  Please notify Rudy Hokanson to register and indicate the number in your party. He will send you directions and instructions.

We will work with the Charlotte Refugee Resettlement agency to help newly arrived families by providing donated goods and setting up apartments. More details to come!

The goal of CRRA is:
“To receive, to connect and to empower newly arrived refugees in the Charlotte area so that they begin successful and self-sufficient lives in the United States”.

During this initial 90 day resettlement period, CRRA obtains and furnishes apartments and stocks them with food so that once the caseworker meets the newly arriving refugee at the Charlotte airport, they have a home. 

New arrivals receive help registering their children for school, enrolling in benefits, obtaining Social Security cards and are able to attend classes for English as a Second Language (ESL). Employment counselors endeavor to find them work and guide each arrival toward self-sufficiency.

Additional grants provide extended medical case management, employment services, financial literacy, a savings program and cultural orientation classes. CRRA also connects refugees and asylees to other service agencies in the Charlotte area.

Who's Coming?

Contact: Constance Spencer '82 MArch

*Please note the date change due to weather: Event is now May 14*

Gwendolyn Brooks: The Oracle of Bronzeville in Gwendolyn Brooks Park and Ida B. Wells: The Light of Truth Monuments honor two truthful Chicago writers with their life stories forged into sculptural forms. Michelle Duster will speak at the monument in her great-grandmother's name. Sculptors, Richard Hunt and Margot McMahon portrayed the writers' lives in interactive three dimensional tributes.

Please join us for caring for saplings at the Gwendolyn Brooks Monument and hearing from Michelle Duster at the Ida B. Wells Monument. For sapling care, please wear comfortable shoes, gloves, a hat, and bring a water bottle. (We will be walking nine blocks between parks.)

Schedule:
11:00- 12:30 ASAP! Adopt Sapling Project Workshop with Yale Blue Green-Green Blocks Initiative: Alumni Sharing Ecological Actions  

12:30-1:30 Little Black Pearl Carver 47 Café at 47th and Greenwood. Bring cash for lunch

2:00-3:00 Michelle Duster, Ida B Wells Monument 37th and Langley

Contacts:

YaleBlueGreen Chicago-Green Blocks Initiative, Yale Chicago: Judith Singleton '00 MA

YaleBlueGreen-Green Blocks Initiative, YaleWomen, YChicago: Margot McMahon '84 MFA

This will be our second time helping to organize non-perishable food items, gathered by postal workers, for the Stamp Out Hunger food drive in Albuquerque. It was great fun, great esprit de corps, and great exercise!  The food donations will be sorted into appropriate boxes to be collected by Roadrunner Food Bank and shared by local food distribution throughout the city and state.  

Roadrunner requests that each person sign up for the EAST section of town.  Note that if you would prefer to work at any of the other sorting venues, please feel free to do so.  Just let us know so that we can have an accurate count of alums-in-the-field.

Volunteer Notes:

1. The loading dock at the Steve Shiff Post Office is covered and partially enclosed, so the event will happen rain or shine.
2. Please wear sturdy, comfortable and washable clothing. Closed-toed shoes are a definite MUST at this site.
3. Teen and young adult children who are willing and able to help sort the canned goods are more than welcome. Please find alternative care for little ones who can become lost or hurt in the rush to get the goods sorted and boxed.
4. Volunteers must be physically able to lift canned goods out of the Post Office’s collection boxes and place/toss them into the enormous Roadrunner transport boxes.  If you need a walker for support you can probably manage with one in place.
5. The session lasts for two hours and the sorting will go on continuously throughout that time period. If you cannot stay for the entire two hours, any time you give will be appreciated.  Just let the site coordinator know when you are leaving.
6. You MUST sign an attendance and release form (available at the site for the activity) and, should you wish, a photo release agreement.

Contact: Elizabeth Anne Burki, Ph.D., MSN'69

*Please note: this service project has reached max capacity of volunteers. Please consider registering for another Day of Service Project*

We will be cooking and serving pasta, salad, bread, and cookies to families staying at the Ronald McDonald House St. Pete East. We will be serving 50 family members. The cooking will take place in the commercial kitchen at the Ronald McDonald House.  We can have up to 10 volunteers ages 14 and above.  

Yalies who are unable to volunteer for the event on May 14 can also bake cookies and arrange with one of the organizers to drop them off before the event.

Who's Coming?

Contact: Anne Philpott Eason '86 and Judith Becker Bryant '77 

Project Lemonade supports local foster youth with year-round shopping for free clothes and accessories at their store in the Lloyd Center.

Volunteers are invited to participate one of two ways:

1. Assist families in the store, check shoppers in and out, organize, and sort donations--whatever needs to be done. If you'd like to be trained to work with shoppers or at checkout, please arrive at 11:30am for training. 16 VOLUNTEERS MAXIMUM.

2. Organize your own clothing drive, or raise funds to sponsor a WISH. Bring your donations to the store on Sunday, May 15 before 2pm.

This is an indoor location in the Lloyd Center Mall and appropriate for families with children 8 and up. Public health guidance must be followed. 

FREE PARKING: Project Lemonade is located in the Lloyd Center Mall, 2nd Floor next to Visionworks. The closest parking is the parking garage next to Barnes and Noble. Drive to Row 2DD and enter the adjacent mall door.

After the event, we’ll gather for happy hour at a nearby restaurant.

Who's Coming?

Contact: Jen Andres '92

Since 1983, Xavier Mission has welcomed, served, and empowered guests with dignity and respect. Founded by the Church of St. Francis Xavier in 2012, the Mission became an independent, secular, for-impact organization. Today, Xavier Mission operates six community outreach programs that provide a continuum of services to those facing difficult times.

The PM shift is the meal service. Volunteers will perform tasks such as:

• Putting hot meal items (entrée, bread, juice, coffee, dessert, etc.) on trays
• Working at food stations giving out extras—e.g., coffee, bread, water, etc.
• Washing, rinsing, and drying trays
• Cleaning tables and chairs and sweeping the floors

Current COVID-19 Restrictions:

• ALL VOLUNTEERS MUST HAVE RECEIVED A COVID-VACCINE BOOSTER IN ORDER TO VOLUNTEER.
• VOLUNTEERS MUST PROVIDE PROOF OF VACCINATION & BOOSTER UPON ARRIVAL.
  • Accepted forms of proof are the 1) NYS Excelsior Pass, or 2) a CDC Vaccination Card (or photocopy of the card) plus Photo ID.

Contact Andrew Burgie '87 to register. Slots are limited to 10 volunteers.