At the Yale Alumni Association, “Our mission is to enhance and renew the lifelong Yale experience for all alumni, whoever they are and wherever they may be. We strive to inspire new ideas, affiliations, friendships, professional fulfillment, and acts of service, around the world.”
The Corona-pandemic has turned the world upside down. Amid this crisis, service is all the more important with global needs that are both great and urgent. Together, we are living the concept of "One Yale" in our communities and as alums by finding new ways to serve – whether it is following public health directives to stay home, checking on elderly neighbors, giving generously to our local food banks that have never been more needed, donating blood amid a health crisis that makes blood donations more critical than ever, assembling personal protection equipment, or reaching out to isolated neighbors or institutionalized seniors with phone calls to lift their spirits.
While many of us are surely disappointed that already planned Day of Service projects in our home communities have been postponed or canceled, or may have to be, we can take comfort in the work we are doing as individuals and collectively as alums to keep ourselves and others safe and COVID-19 free, while still contributing to our communities' overarching needs during these challenging times. Yalies have already stepped up in diverse and creative ways.
The “Day of Service” was always meant to encourage and celebrate a year-round commitment to service. This year, we have no choice but to recast the Day of Service as a Year of Service. While most of us cannot gather as planned on the original day, we can all find ways to make a difference in the current crisis, and we can renew our commitment to year-round service, in the best tradition of Yale.
Know that you can help the Yale community affirm a commitment to service year-round, both locally and worldwide, as we all struggle to get to the other side of this coronavirus challenge safely.
Every day can be a Yale day of service, and we’re here to help: Commitment. Determination. Solidarity.
