Alumni Newsletter Spring 2012
From the director’s desk...
H
appy Silver Anniversary EV! We are celebrating our 25th Anniversary this year. I am sure Chaplain Richard McBride and John Barnhill don’t feel a day older than when they sat together and hatched the brilliant idea that became Elon Volunteers! We have enjoyed an amazing journey that has led us to where we are today: • 105 student leaders and six professional staff members • Endowments for the Kernodle Center and Alternative Breaks program
• More than 100,000 hours of service completed annually by over 2,000 student volunteers • Five years on the Presidential Honor Roll • A new name that indicates our expansion as a “Center for Service Learning and Community Engagement” While we have undergone many changes in the past 25 years, our core values remain the same. We value student leadership and community voice based on mutually beneficial and reciprocal relationships. We believe in treating students as colleagues and
faculty members as partners in our work. We continue to evolve in our relationships with community partners and to expand our reach across Alamance County. The EV! acorn has grown into a 25-year old oak, with a long life to look forward to. Please mark your calendar for Homecoming on October 19-21, 2012. We are planning special events for alumni and current students alike to celebrate our anniversary next year. 25 years and growing…..long live Elon! -Mary Morrison
Alternative Breaks program expands
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e have had a great year for the Alternative Breaks program. There was a record amount of student interest and we have added several new trips. So far, more than 120 students participated in trips over fall, spring and summer breaks this year. These trips have taken students to new places, both domestically and internationally, and introduced them to service. Our trips have included:
• Appalachian Mountain: Rural Poverty • Turtle Island: Environmental Issues • Washington, D.C.: Hunger and Homelessness • New Orleans: Housing and Disaster Relief • Atlanta: Urban Poverty • Dominican Republic: Affordable Housing • Honduras: Street Children • Jamaica: Rural Education • Morocco: Interfaith Exploration • Malawi: HIV/AIDS Orphans
We are amazed by our students, as they designed several of our new trips. Our newest summer break trip to Malawi was designed by a current junior as a class project. We have also added new domestic trips to D.C. and Atlanta. Students have reported nothing but good experiences from alternative breaks so far this year! -Evan Small
Let’s Ride the BioBus to Burlington
S
pring 2010 marked the beginning of the Downtown/East Burlington Express Route, helping to connect 445 students to service opportunities within the City of Burlington. Running four afternoons a week, the route was designed to meet the transportation needs of students serving and volunteering in some of our community’s most utilized nonprofits. As transportation needs continue to look our greater Burlington community in the face, what was initially intended to support students is now meeting both student and community member needs with a total of 1,811 riders in the fall of 2011. This fall, we also added a stop at the
Company Shops Market, a new asset in our community. Increased student ridership can also be attributed to the fact that we had a record 52 academic service learning courses this year. These courses partnered with 79 community projects and service experiences throughout a range of disciplines. Faculty have integrated the opportunity to further expose students by taking a route tour and learning about local economics and some of the history of the areas on the route. There remains no public transportation system in Burlington and for routine riders this route has become a means to get to needed services or work, as there is
no charge. While it certainly meets only a small portion of need, it has made a difference in the lives of some. While riding, students can see the reality of transportation needs as community members utilize the service. On a recent tour, the real life needs of seeing a couple with three children managing two strollers, plus bags of groceries bought at the Wal-mart stop was seen. After riding to their neighborhood near the Allied Churches stop, the man unloaded everything and got back on the bus to say, “This has been a Godsend. I do not know what our family would do without it.” -Tammy Cobb
Campus Kitchen saves food from being wasted
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he Campus Kitchen at Elon University (CKEU) is part of a nationwide organization of 31 colleges and universities (and only 1 of 3 in North Carolina!) that utilizes a volunteer work force to provide student powered hunger relief. Our Mission The mission of The Campus Kitchens Project is to use service as a tool to: Strengthen bodies by using existing resources to meet hunger and nutritional needs in Burlington; Empower minds by providing leadership and service learning opportunities to students, and educational benefits to adults, seniors, children, and families in need; and Build Communities by fostering a new generation of community-minded adults through resourceful and mutually beneficial partnerships among students, social service agencies, businesses, and schools. We currently provide 55-60 meals a week to the Good Shepard Soup Kitchen at the Allied Churches shelter. Our students resource, prepare and deliver these meals every week with most of the food provided by our on-campus food provider, Aramark. Beginning this spring, we are branching
out further into the community. Not only are we are developing new relationships with locally based businesses to help our community help itself, but we are also planning more cooking shifts and seeking additional outlet partners. This summer should
begin our community involvement classes featuring basic culinary technique, as well as a farm-to-fork educational overview. -Steve Caldwell
Congratulations, EV! H American Red Cross Golden Heart Award (10th straight year for most blood collected during a drive) H President’s Higher Education Community Service Award—Honor Roll with Distinction for the past 5 years H Organization Awards and Inaguration Ceremony 2012: F Outstanding Service to Students: Mary Leigh Frier F Student Organization Member of the Year: Andrew Somers F Dr. J Earl Danieley Leadership Award: Katie Kenney
Awareness programs have expanded
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V!’s Awareness Council has expanded! With the addition of Oxfam International and Sierra Club, we now have five awareness programs: Sierra Club Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization. Inspired by nature, we are 1.4 million of your friends and neighbors, working together to protect our communities and the planet. Invisible Children Invisible Children uses film, creativity and social action to end the use of child soldiers in Joseph Kony’s rebel war and restore LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) affected communities
in Central Africa to peace and prosperity. Oxfam Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working together in 98 countries and with partners and allies around the world to find lasting solutions to poverty and injustice. Amnesty International Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 3 million supporters, members and activists in more than 150 countries and territories who campaign to end grave abuses of human rights. Student Global Aids Campaign The Student Global AIDS Cam-
SafeRides Safe Rides recently installed a new radio communication system! Each of the 5 vehicles (3 vans and 2 cars) now has an installed radio that communicates with the central radio in the Kernodle Center. This system will improve operational efficiency by eliminating the excess time used dialing cell phones. We’re excited about our improved ability to accomplish our mission of providing safe travel to the Elon community. paign (SGAC) is a US-based network of student and youth organizations committed to the global fight against AIDS. The Awareness Council has been busy this year coordinating letter writing campaigns, World AIDS Day program-
ming, Oxfam Hunger Banquets, documentary screenings, and sustainability initiatives. -Mary Leigh Frier
Stay up to date with the Kernodle Center and Elon Volunteers! Keep in touch with us: http://www.elon.edu/e-web/students/servicelearning/keepintouch.xhtml Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/EV-Elon-Volunteers/29433375171 Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/ElonVolunteers YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/elonvols/featured
Meet the Kernodle Center’s Staff Mary Morrison
Tammy Cobb
Libby Otos
Mary Leigh Frier
Steven Caldwell
Evan Small