Monday, November 22, 2010

Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week

ConnPIRG held their Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Campaign the week before Thanksgiving! Tricia Cavanaugh (2014) made great flyers to encourage students to come to the events.  Volunteers tabled with facts about homelessness and a cardboard house made by Nicole S. (2014).


The week culminated with the SleepOut! The SleepOut was organized by student volunteers to raise awareness about Homelessness and educate about the true faces of homelessness and the need to address affordable housing in Connecticut.
Speakers included Reverend Woods of the Hartford Rescue Mission and Richard Luchansky of Immaculate Conception Shelter and Housing Corporation. Reverend Woods presented his reflections from starting his a food kitchen and shared the recent growth the program has experienced as they expand services to include emergency housing.  After an a Cappella performance with the Trinitones, Richard and Michael spoke powerfully on the invisible faces of homelessness.
Afterwards the students made s'mores, reflected on the themes of the night, and built a huge box fort before going to 'bed' in their sleeping bags.  The next morning one student said, "I was so cold last night, even with the body heat of everyone else in the fort and the huge extra sleeping bags we had over us.  It was a reminder of how important it is to address homelessness in Hartford."



Also, the Amnesty Chapter at Trinity College held the Annual Hunger Banquet on Friday, November 19 - the same night as the SleepOut.  Volunteers flyered for the event which took place in the Washington Room.  Participants 'paid' with a donation of canned goods and/or cash.

Praxis baked almost 200 apple pies for Thanksgiving! Members gathered in Hamlin Hall at 11 am to make the pies, and some assembled boxes for delivery.  Volunteers got to see the insides of the Mather bakery and the huge, commercial oven that was used to make the pies.  As a few volunteers took the pies out after an hour, they enjoyed the delicious smells!

Another group on campus, Habitat for Humanity, completed their third build of the semester that same day.  Ten volunteers met and carpooled to the build site in Hartford, where volunteers worked with two families in building a house.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Habitrot and Relay!

After weeks of planning, over a hundred students participated in this years Habitrot and the group raised more than 12,000 dollars! That means that this years Habitrot raised more money than any other in years past.
What made the event a success? Habitat for Humanity members tabled for the event the week before, and students from frats or sororities, dorms, and other service groups formed teams.
Also, some Professors gave extra credit for participating! Are you a science major who needs some motivation to train? Keep in mind for next year that Professor Curran and Professor Niciase in the Chemistry Department offers extra credit to those students who can beat him in the 5 k race.  Hmm considering the Chemistry team had the most participants by far, there were many hopefuls! 



Tuesday night, Relay for Life held a very successful Ice Cream Social! Members of the Trinity Community were able to sign up as Relay for Life Fundraisers with five dollar donations, and everyone got hyped up about the main event, which will be in the Spring. Currently there are 35 teams signed up.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Halloween on Vernon

The 20th annual Halloween on Vernon this year was a success. A week before the holiday over 200 children from Hartford were chaperoned along Vernon Street by enthusiastic volunteers.  Groups visited cultural houses, Greek houses, and other organizations.  The event ended at Vernon Social Center, where volunteers from different campus organizations helped children decorate cookies, fish for candy, and toss bean bags, and everyone went home with huge amounts of candy!

Morris Jalloh, 2012 showcasing his face painting skills!




Trinity students who participated had just as much fun as the children!!

Outside Praxis Jessica Nunes, 2013 and Yoda