Events Calendar

Filling in the Blanks' Weekend Meal Program has provided over 1 million weekend meals to to children throughout Fairfield and Westchester counties. Join your fellow alums on May 13 - Yale's Day of Service - for a morning volunteer event where we'll assemble and package food items for these children to carry home to eat over the weekend. Volunteers aged 14 and over are welcome! Spaces are limited to 30 people, so register soon! 

To Register:

• For new volunteers please first create an account on the organization's website. Then use the sign-up link to register for your event.
• For returning volunteers, sign in and then use the registration link for your event.
• Volunteers under 18 they must get a parent signature on the electronic waiver
• All volunteers MUST sign up at least 72 hours prior to the event with the link provided. 

Location:

• Warehouse is located at 346 Main Avenue, Norwalk - entrance is at the loading dock. 
• Wear comfortable closed toe shoes and clothing as you will be working in a warehouse. 
• Masks are currently optional in the warehouse.

Contact: Tina Casolo '80

Join Friends of East Rock Park members and park staff for spring park maintenance including clearing brush, planting bulbs and raking. Come prepared for outdoor work, bring water, and gloves if you have them. Tools provided. Children welcome.  

Who's Coming

Contact: Christina Coffin '74

Note: this program has reached its maximum volunteer capacity. Please consider volunteering for another service program neaby.

Join the Yale Peabody Museum on Horse Island as we maintain the property, collect trash, and improve the trail system. Horse Island, owned by the Peabody Museum, is one of the Thimble Islands in the Long Island Sound near the village of Stony Creek in Branford, CT. We'll base our operations out of the new sustainably designed research station, which is already being used by Yale students and faculty across the disciplines. 

This Day of Service project is designed for adults, but family members 14 years or older who are prepared to participate are welcome to register along with their parents/guardians.

Parking is limited at the Stony Creek dock area; plan to arrive 15-20 minutes early to find parking. Participants should prepare to encounter uneven terrain and poison ivy as well as ticks. A hat and sunscreen are recommended, and volunteers should wear supportive, closed-toe footwear and comfortable outdoor work clothes that can get dirty.

Participants will catch the ferry from the Stony Creek Dock at 12:30 pm and receive an orientation on Horse Island at 1:00 pm. You will be able to choose the projects(s) you'd like to work on for the morning. Please feel free to bring a picnic lunch to enjoy on the grounds. You'll return to the Stony Creek Dock between 4:30 and 5:00 pm.

The program will run in light rain, but in the event of significant inclement weather we will move to our rain dates of Sunday, May 21, and Saturday, June 10, please hold those on your calendar if possible! 

Due to space limitations, this event will only be able to accommodate 13 volunteers.

Who's Coming?

Contact: David Heiser

*Registration for this event has closed. Please consider participating in a different Service Project.*

You are invited to join us for a fun card making event with residents of Chatham Place at Mary Wade. Materials will be provided to create decorative cards for the residents to display or give away. All ages are welcome to participate.

Due to room capacity, the number of volunteers is limited to 6.  All volunteers must be vaccinated and wear a mask. Parking is available behind the building.

Light refreshments will be provided.

If you are unable to join us, please create decorative cards at home with your family that can be shared with elderly residents who are memory impaired and either living in Senior Living facilities, your neighborhood or your own family and friends. The cards can be for any occasion – Happy Birthday, Thinking of You, tell a Joke. Draw a picture using materials you have on hand such as paper, markers, crayons, stickers, glitter - whatever you think will bring a smile or cheer to a senior who is unable to get out and about.

Who's Coming?

Contact: Kyle Higgins, Yale School of Public Health
 

Join the Yale Veterans Association and the Eastern Blind Rehabilitation Service (EBRS) at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System in the 10th Annual Day of Service Event.

Volunteers will meet with blind Veterans, to cook, serve and share an outdoor BBQue, and have the opportunity to experience some of the adaptive equipment used in blind rehabilitation by joining the Veterans in lawn games of boccia and cornhole.

• 10:00 AM -  Meet outside the VA main lobby for Voluntary Service Orientation
• 10:30 AM -  Eastern Blind Rehabilitation Service(EBRS) Welcome & Sighted Guide Training
• 10:45 AM  - Set-up BBQ area, lawn games  
• 11:30 AM  - Cook BBQ and Assist Veterans arriving for lunch
• 12:00 Noon  - Pledge of Allegiance lead by Student Representative, Prayer, National Anthem, brief introductions
• 12:15 Noon - Serve Veterans Lunch
• 1:00 PM clean-up and lawn games

Volunteers must be at least 14 years old to participate. Participants can wear casual clothing. 

Who's Coming?

Contact: Glen Gechlik '05 MBA

The Mercy Learning Center (MLC) mission is to provide literacy and life skills training to low income women in Bridgeport, CT. The center 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 has a holistic approach and also offers social services, counseling, food and diaper assistance and childcare. CEO Jane Ferreira, Yale YDS Class of ‘89 often says, “When you educate a woman, you educate a family” and all donations will stretch across generations.

Donation Drive: What is Needed and How to Contribute:
The MLC is in urgent need of donations and family friendly Food Pantry & toiletries for their members for at home use. Given the pandemic’s impact on their community there are multiple ways to engage and contribute as follows:

• May 22: In Person Drop Off: For those interested, we will drop off a care package on Monday, May 22, and take photos with The MLC staff and families, as available. Exact time to be scheduled in mid April 2023. See who's coming! 
• May 12: Virtual Conversation: Optional Zoom call Friday afternoon, May 12 with Jane Ferreira, President & CEO of The Mercy Learning Center and Guest Speakers on “The Urgency of Accelerating Women’s Literacy”
• Ongoing: Cash/Credit Donations: Send directly to MLC and note YDOS 23
• Ongoing: Food Pantry & Toiletries: Non-Perishable Healthy Foods and Toiletries can be sent via Amazon.com or Walmart.com for Monday to Friday delivery dates at any time to The Mercy Learning Center, 637 Park Avenue, Bridgeport, CT 06604-4611.
  • Please note YDOS 23 in gift receipt comments for tracking.
  • Favorites of their families would be healthy cereal, soup, canned tuna and chicken, bags of rice and dried beans, pasta and sauce, canned vegetables and fruits, peanut butter and jelly for groceries
  • Priority toiletries include toothbrushes (adult and child), toothpaste, floss, soap, shampoo, deodorant, baby wipes, tampons and sanitary napkins for toiletries.

Site Contacts: Lee Race '93 MBA & Kylie Race

Social Sharing: If you’d like to include words of encouragement and name and Yale affiliation or a photo as part of our care package and social post for our YDOS for The Mercy Learning Center please email Lee & Kylie.

Thank you to past participants, it’s been an incredibly meaningful effort to support The Mercy Learning Center mission, staff and community.

Please Donate Books for the
Yale Club of Hartford Spring Book Drive
Drop Off Books at or Mail Books to
First Baptist Church of West Hartford
90 North Main Street, West Hartford
Saturday, April 13th, from 10 am - 2 pm
and Sunday, April 14th, from Noon - 4 pm

Happy Spring!  We know many of you may be looking over your spaces at this time of year and making decisions about what stays, and what goes.  If you’ve come across any books in need of a new home, why not donate them to our Club of Hartford book drive?

On Saturday, April 13th and Sunday, April 14th, our Club will be accepting donations of books at our collection site, First Baptist Church of West Hartford (90 North Main Street, West Hartford).  Donated books will be contributed toward the Likoni Library Project, directed by Fulbright Scholar Nadja Umlauf ’22 and organized last year through Dwight Hall.  The Likoni Library Project strives to build mobile libraries for students in Kenya, and has already made a difference for thousands of students.  Our Club is working directly with Nadja for this month’s book drive.  Click here to read more about the Likoni Library Project and Nadja’s work in support of it!

Donating your books is fast and easy!:

1.    Drop-off or mail your books to the collection site:  First Baptist Church of West Hartford, 90 North Main Street, West Hartford, CT 06107.  In the bag or box you use for drop-off or mailing, please include a note with your name and e-mail address so we can acknowledge your donation.  If mailing books, please address them “Attn: Yale Club of Hartford Book Drive”, and consider asking your Post Office about strongly-discounted Media Mail service for books.

2.    Receive your receipt acknowledging your contribution of each book you donate for this drive.  Receipts will be sent to the e-mail address in the note included with your drop-off, and will acknowledge each book received.  We will consider requests to send receipts by postal mail in select cases.  As a donation to the charitable activities of our Club, your donation may be tax-exempt to the fullest extent permitted.  Consult your tax advisor.

3.    Stay updated about the difference your contribution makes!  Once donated books have arrived at their final destination, we’ll share info from our partners in Kenya (hopefully including at least a few photos) about how these books are making a difference for their students!
In addition to book donations, we also welcome dollar donations to help us ship donated books to Kenya.  For just $2 per book, you can help us get our donated books to their destination!  

Contact: Eric Fleischman '83

Join us for the Yale University Art Gallery's new family program, Getting StARTed, which offers engaging activities to guide families in looking at art together.

The 30-minute sessions focus on a range of works from the collection and build in time for participants to try the month's activity on their own. No registration required.

This program is free and open to the public. We welcome Yale graduate students and their families to experience the Gallery and to meet with members of the Graduate School Alumni Association (GSAA) Board, either before or after the sessions. Come learn how the GSAA Board interacts with and supports Yale graduate students and alumni.

Contact: Kitty Koo-Tse '01 MS