NEW ROCHELLE, NY — As part of its ongoing commitment to community service, The College of New Rochelle, which has been recognized for five consecutive years on the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, engaged its faculty and students in a day of giving on April 16, 2015. Approximately 200 students, faculty, and staff of The College of New Rochelle participated in service projects and collected donations at each of the College’s six campuses as part of the day, which also included a Special Olympics Competition in The Wellness Center on the New Rochelle Campus. Students, faculty, and staff from all four Schools of the College participated in the Special Olympics competition for the Public School Sports League (PSSL). The PSSL is a consortium of middle and high schools students from Westchester and Putnam counties.
“It is very fulfilling to see our community come out on days like this to be of service to others. It is an awe-inspiring testament to CNR’s commitment to be of service to others,” said Helen Wolf, Executive Director of Mission and Ministry, who organized the event.
At the Main Campus in New Rochelle, students collected over 100 pairs of shoes and hand stuffed 110 teddy bears to send to an orphanage in Ghana where CNR nursing student O’Brien Awuah ‘17 has a personal connection. “Making the bears for the kids was a great project because we filled them with our hopes and wishes as we stuffed them and gave the kids something personal,” said Fabiola Padilla Rios ’18. Students on the New Rochelle campus also made donations of needed items for Providence House’s Outreach to Pregnant Women.
During the Special Olympics event, students, faculty, and staff organized and refereed basketball and football games, coordinated games and activities, photographed the events, baked cupcakes for the PSSL athletes, and made monetary donations to purchase items for a goodie bag for each of the PSSL athletes.
Members of the CNR Community were also involved in community service activities on all the College’s city campuses.
At the Brooklyn Campus, donations of dry goods and toiletries were distributed to a food bank and homeless shelter in the Bed-Stuy/Crown Heights Community.
At the DC-37 Campus in lower Manhattan, faculty, staff and students made a donation to the “Totes for Teachers” Drive, of school supplies for classes taught by Local 371 Board of Education DC-37 union members.
At the John Cardinal O’Connor Campus in the Bronx, donations were made of needed items for St. Vincent De Paul Nursing Home.
At the Rosa Parks Campus in Harlem, faculty, staff, and students worked on a project with the Harlem Children’s Zone.
At Co-op City Campus, faculty, staff and students made donations of travel-sized toiletries for P.O.T.S (Part of the Solution, a leading provider of emergency food, social, and legal services in the Bronx); and assisted the New Rochelle efforts in collecting gently used children’s shoes for the orphanage in Ghana.
