FALL 2012 NEWSLETTER INSIDE THIS ISSUE • Project Life Fall Recap
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• CCS Service-Learning & Global Learning
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• Habitat for Humanity and CPCC • Reading Programs with Assisted Living Facilites
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• Foster-a-Family Food Drive • Service in Action: A Students Perspective
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Project Life Student Committee Fall 2013 Recap This past fall 2012 semester, the student Project Life student leadership committee has been meeting bi-weekly to prepare for not just two Project Life bone marrow typing drives, (last year was a Central and Levine campuses), but all six campuses! Project Life, is a grassroots organization was first started by leukemia survivor, David Lindsay at his former alma mater, Davidson. Since leukemia and other blood cancers attack one’s healthy bone marrow, a transplant is one of the few ways to help save a life. Project Life targets college students to be added to the National Bone Marrow Registry at a relatively young age, and in turn, the longer they will stay on the registry, the likelihood of finding a potential bone marrow match increases. This fall, the Project Life student leadership committee, comprised of all Health Science students, decided to focus on three areas of interest to advocate for Project Life. The three areas include: educational, public relations and sponsorship areas. The student committee, in particular, the Cytotechnology students have been extremely active in advocating on this committee to get the awareness out about the upcoming Project Life February 14th drives. This semester the students have come up with brightly colored, eye-catching flyers that say “Are you The One?” tagline, with a different statistic on it. One example, said “Approximately every 10 minutes someone in the US dies from blood cancer.” Another flyer illustrated a bar graph showing it is statistically more difficult for minorities to find a match for bone marrow. The students also created educational power point which will be taken to different classrooms around all CPCC campuses to help educate many classes on the benefits of bone marrow donation. The presentation power point video will serve as a great marketing tool to recruit all different areas of study and student organizations. This January and early February, the students will have several ways of getting the word out about the Project Life Bone Marrow drives on February 14th. The students will pre-register potential donors at informational tables in to also get the awareness out about Project Life. The library at Central Campus will be having a library display on bone marrow donation to promote the upcoming February drive. The committee will be pre-registering students at a table in the Health Sciences Building, the Levine IT, and Bojangles. The students have also been preparing for a Bone Marrow Education Panel, having a bone marrow donor, recipient and an oncologist speak on the experience of the bone marrow donation process. This will be an opportunity for students learn about the myths of bone marrow donation and the realities of the need for more donors to sign up for the registry. The panel will take place on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at Central Campus, Hall Building, Room 304/305 from 12:30pm-1:30pm. Last year, the 300 individuals signed up to be added to the National Bone Marrow Registry. This year, 288 donors signed up at the drive, making the total number of donors from last year and this year, 596 potential bone marrow donors.
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SERVICE-LEARNING CONNECTIONS FALL 2013
Service-Learning & Global Learning
Habitat for Humanity and CPCC work together for Sustainability in Charlotte
Written by: Nadine Russell
Written By: Matt Miller, Program Chair/Instructor of Sustainability Technologies
CPCC recently won a proposal to administer our first international service-learning projects in par tnership with Cross Cultural Solutions (CCS), an international non-profit organization. The College was approved to lead programs to both Brazil and Peru in 2013.
In the fall semester of 2009 a servicelearning initiative was born through the Dean of Student Life and Service-Learning at Central Piedmont Community College, Mark Helms. Mark’s vision was to bring Habitat for Humanity’s Critical Home Repair team together with the Sustainability Technologies program to create positive change in the community while teaching student’s skills that would help them find jobs.
From July 5-July 16th, 2013, students will be in Salvador, Brazil to work with local agencies providing assistance to the youth and elderly of the region. In addition to volunteer work, students will spend afternoons engaged in cultural and educational activities, while learning about Brazil’s growing economy.
Students in “SST 120 – Energy Use Analysis” worked alongside the Habitat for Humanity team to asses existing homes insulation values and energy consumption and then performed the necessary work for improvement, bringing the home owners energy cost down to a more manageable monthly payment.
The Global Learning office is proud to announce that 9 CPCC students applied for scholarships through CCS. Of the 9 applicants, 8 were awarded $1,800 each to cover the cost of meals, housing and transportation while in Brazil.
Students saw firsthand what happens to those who are forced to make a decision between paying their electricity bill or
To learn more about this program and other international travel opportunities, please visit the Global Learning website: www.cpcc.edu/study-abroad or visit the office in Overcash 303.
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SERVICE-LEARNING CONNECTIONS FALL 2013
purchasing other necessities such as medication and food. Through analyzing a home’s energy consumption, and performing the tasks to improve it, students were able to drastically improve the quality of life of a home owner and gain real world experience that would help them gain meaningful employment. Since 2009, this Service-Learning opportunity has been available to students taking “SST 120 – Energy Use Analysis” nine times and approximately 20 homes have been improved upon since that time. This initiative has been so successful that a graduate of the Sustainability Technologies program has been hired full time to coordinate the repair of existing homes by Habitat for Humanity.
T Written By: Lynette Kendrick
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Classified Staff Foster-a-Family Food Drive
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Reading Programs with Assisted Living Agencies
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By Terry McMicking John Lennon said, “Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.” Pardon the bad grammar but… AIN’T THAT THE TRUTH!! None of us plans to have health problems, or for family to have health problems, or for a spouse to lose a job, or any of a myriad of other things that can wreak havoc on your financial situation. Those things can be fiscally overwhelming even during the best of times. But when gas is around $4 per gallon and a small bag of groceries costs a small fortune AND something bad happens, it’s hard to put food on the table.
English poet Joseph Addison said: “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” With that in mind, CPCC Libraries and Service-Learning joined together last semester to provide students with a unique service-learning opportunity—reading aloud to seniors at various nursing homes in the Charlotte area. By reading aloud to individuals or a group, students were able to visit with residents and provide companionship for some who may not always have family nearby to visit. While sometimes more talking than reading is done, students really enjoy interacting with the older ones and sharing stories— bridging the generational gap. Additionally, several students have found that reading aloud has helped them to improve their own literacy and social skills.
For the past five years, the Classified Staff Council has facilitated a food drive to provide Thanksgiving dinner for CPCC families who have been hit hard by life’s unplanned complications and the tough economic times. When we started the food drive six years ago, we went through county agencies to distribute the food to families in need. By 2008, we realized that there were members of our CPCC family who were in dire straits, so we decided to “take care of our own.”
The partnership between Central Piedmont Community College library services and service-learning has been outstanding. These reading opportunities are offered three times a semester for students that register and offer service-learning credit for all the participants. The schedule rotates opportunities for which communities are visited, allowing students to visit six different facilities throughout the academic year.
Through generous donations from the Cabinet, faculty, and staff, every year we have been able to increase the number of families who receive dinner. This year, we were able to provide twenty CPCC families with enough food and gift cards to have a nice Thanksgiving dinner and maybe another holiday meal or two. They will certainly have enough corn and green beans!
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SERVICE-LEARNING CONNECTIONS FALL 2013
This is a CPCC family tradition that I hope will continue as long as the need exists. To be honest, sorting the food and getting it ready for delivery gave me the same sort of feeling that I get when trimming the tree with my family. Janice Teeter-Blanks, who has led the Foster-a-Family committee for the past several years, even provided us with breakfast. Food can certainly add to a festive atmosphere! While surrounded by stacks of canned goods and boxes of stuffing and macaroni and cheese, we could feel the compassion given by our own to our own. There were a lot of smiles that day by everyone involved! Life can throw us some unexpected curveballs, but it can also be good.
“...take care of our own.”
Service in Action: A Student Perspective Written By: Na’tasha Brooks This semester, I participated in a variety of Service-Learning projects through Central Piedmont Community College’s Service in Action calendar. I participated in three events: Second Harvest Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity of Charlotte, and Creek ReLeaf Tree Planting.
construction experience, however, we had a site supervisor who provided us with great tools and instructions that helped us get started. I volunteered to operate the electric chain saw which was exciting and I learned a new skill! I am proud to have been apart of making a difference in someone else’s life - I am sure it made just as an impact on their lives as it did mine.
The purpose of the Second Harvest Food Bank is to provide food for families that are suffering from hunger. CPCC, Journey Place, and Bank of America employees worked together on this project. Companies such as CVS donate to Second Harvest by sending products that can no longer be sold in stores. Second Harvest refurbishes these products and gives it to those who are in need. We sorted and organized through boxes full of canned and dry foods to make sure they were in good condition. Surprisingly, there were also a lot of toiletries, kitchen products, clothes, shoes, toys, pet necessities, and much more. Second Harvest Food Bank was thrilled to have our assistance and they expressed that they couldn’t do the work they do without volunteer assistance. It felt great to know that our time was so appreciated.
for those who donated their morning to participate in the event. In all, this experience has challenged me to open up my eyes, my mind, and my heart. Giving back to the community has changed me as a person and has given me a newfound perspective on life. Living in the world today, I find it too easy to take what we have for granted, but working with and in the community through Central Piedmont Community College, I have learned that even the smallest seed can make a difference.
The second project I completed was at Habitat for Humanity. Habitat for Humanity partners with low income families to create and preserve affordable home ownership solutions. Volunteers, donors, and our community contributed to the construction and completion of building their home. There were many of us participating through service-learning at CPCC who did not have the skills or
Creek ReLeaf Planting was a pretty amazing event. Over five hundred people, from all walks of life, volunteered as a community to give back to the Earth. In three hours, we planted over 1,800 trees along Irwin Creek in west Charlotte. The event included a celebration at the end of the project, with lunch and door prizes 5
SERVICE-LEARNING CONNECTIONS FALL 2013
Service-Learning Staff: Mark Helms Dean of Student Life and Service-Learning Dena Shonts Director of Service-Learning Mary Mozingo Service-Learning Coordinator Jenn Marts Service-Learning/Student Life Coordinator Terry McMicking Administrative Assistant III
Service-Learning Center Overcash 257 PO Box 35009 Charlotte, NC 28235 704.330.6445 / fax 704.330.6442