Students Serve Campus and Community During Adelphi Gives Back Month

Every March, the Center for Student Involvement (CSI) hosts Adelphi Gives Back Month, a month of opportunities for students to give back to our campus and community. And give back they did.

Students participated in events that CSI, in partnership with departments around campus, offered throughout the month, according to CSI’s Associate Director Lauren Purcaro and Assistant Director Arianna Livreri. They volunteered for local communities, helped out organizations in New York City and even went as far as Cusco, Peru.

“Overall,” said Livreri, “1,289 hours were completed by 258 volunteers through CSI events during Adelphi Gives Back Month.”

• The threat of snow and a delayed opening on Saturday, March 2, couldn’t detain 53 volunteers from getting to their selected destinations for Panther Day of Service. Purcaro said student organizations, resident assistants and Greek organizations came together to host programs benefiting numerous causes such as the Mary Brennan INN, Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Island Harvest, for which two students collected 53 pounds of food and over $90 in donations. Altogether, Panthers volunteered for a total of 212 hours.
• On Tuesday, March 5, students sent 264 blue ribbons to express appreciation and respect for people in their lives as part of the Who I Am Makes a Difference campaign.
• For alternative spring break, 21 students traveled to Cusco, Peru, where they worked alongside local residents to help build new structures for community use, renovate existing community buildings and improve local infrastructure, Livreri said. “They helped build sidewalks as well as rooftops for an orphanage/school and weeded so that the kids had an area to play in.”

• On Wednesday, March 27, 73 students helped run Adelphi’s blood drive. “We had a total of 134 donations,” said Livreri, “which equals 402 lives that will be saved.”
• Adelphi Gives Back Month was the perfect transition into Relay Week, leading up to Relay For Life on Friday, April 5, and Saturday, April 6, in the Center for Recreation and Sports. “Relay For Life is a unique celebration of life in honor and in memory of those whose lives have been touched by cancer,” said Purcaro. The goal was to raise $50,000 for the American Cancer Society. Thanks to the 46 teams and 770 individuals who participated in Relay For Life, more than $54,000 was raised.

“Although Adelphi Gives Back Month is over, the giving is not!” said Purcaro.

Contact volunteer@adelphi.edu and find out how you can give back any time of the year.