Tag: service learning

Unity with Our Community – Rescheduled

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On Friday, March 15th, Hilbert College students, faculty, and staff are invited to participate in our rescheduled Unity with Our Community event, a service day devoted to carrying on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in our community. This day is an opportunity for us at Hilbert to connect with the work Dr. King advocated for and to understand the importance of taking action to promote equality, justice, respect, and compassion.

Current community partners for the day include:

716 Ministries: A community development organization that stabilizes neighborhoods by restoring neglected housing stock. The organization sells these rehabilitated homes at a low cost, to community members and first-time homebuyers, largely thanks to the faithful volunteers that serve with the agency.

Compass House: Provides runaway, homeless, and street youth with safe shelter and services. Compass House stands as one of the nation’s oldest shelter and service providers for youth of all gender identities, offering shelter, counseling, and so much more.

Food Bank of WNY: The primary hunger-relief organization in Western New York. The agency obtains nutritious food and distributes support to our community members throughout Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, and Niagara Counties.

Little Portion Friary: A volunteer-run organization that brings forth the mission of the Catholic Church to provide food for the hungry, clothing for the undressed, and shelter for the homeless.

Salvation Army in Buffalo: Provides a variety of programs and services that annually benefit over 30,000 economically disadvantaged people. The Salvation Army is an integral part of the local human service network, providing housing, clothing, nutritional, social, and spiritual assistance through a wide range of separate but interrelated programs and services.

S.S. Columba Brigid: A neighborhood, multicultural Catholic church where all are welcome.

Veterans One-Stop Center of WNY, Inc.: a nonprofit corporation offering U.S. Veterans and their families the convenience of a one-stop, barrier-free location in which to access a holistic range of social and health services in the comfort of a “home base” environment that is always welcoming, affirming and responsive to their needs.

PLEASE NOTE:
If you registered for the original date for Unity with Our Community, you will need to re-register online prior to the event. Please complete the registration form online at hilbert.edu/UWOC.

Hilbert Partners With Unyts To Host Donate Life Club Summits

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On November 17, the Hilbert Center for Career and Community Engagement hosted a Donate Life Summit on the Hilbert campus. The event welcomed over 70 high school students from seven local high schools to learn about the importance of organ donation in our communities.

This event was held in partnership with Unyts, Western New York’s only organ, eye, tissue, and community blood center. Unyts established the Donate Life Club in 2004 to assist groups of students at area high schools in the planning, development, and implementation of a campaign to increase awareness about organ, tissue, and blood donation among their peers.

By participating in workshops during the event, the 70+ high school students who attended Hilbert’s Donate Life Club Summit in November were able to receive the knowledge necessary to help spread accurate information about the importance of organ, eye, tissue, and blood donation to their school and home communities. The ultimate goal of Unyts and the Donate Life Club is to establish donation as a cultural norm. 

Hilbert is proud to be hosting another Donate Life Club Summit on Tuesday, December 18th. For more information, please contact Rachel Wozniak at rwozniak@hilbert.edu or by phone at (716) 926-8929.

Hilbert’s Own Rachel Wozniak Awarded by Compass House

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Rachel Wozniak (Assistant Director, Center for Career & Community Engagement) was recently awarded with the Martha Martin Youth Advocacy Award from Compass House, an emergency shelter for homeless youth in Erie County. The award was given in recognition of Wozniak’s work with Hilbert students via service learning and community engagement events to benefit Compass House and their clients.

Wozniak received the award during the Compass House’s “Big Hat & Tacky Tie Brunch,” an annual event hosted in support of Compass House’s programs.

Rachel Wozniak pictured with Lisa Freeman, Executive Director of Compass House

The Hilbert community is proud to support Compass House in their mission “To provide runaway, homeless and street youth with safe shelter and services, through a voluntary and mutually agreed-upon process, in an environment that supports dignity, respect and self-reliance.” Compass House is the area’s only shelter for both male and female youth, serving ages 12-17 with voluntary, confidential, and free services 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Rachel Wozniak was joined at the event with the support of her husband Dan Wozniak, mother-in-law Mrs. Wozniak, sisters Connie Wittmeyer and Denise Williams, Director of the Center for Career and Community Engagement Katie Martoche, and Hilbert alum Erika Betz (’17).

We are extremely proud of the entire Hilbert family for continuously working hard to benefit our community. Please join us in congratulating Rachel if you see her around campus!

Young Life Heads to New Orleans

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Spring break is upon us! What are your plans this spring break? Keeping true to their Franciscan identity, 10 Hilbert College students plan to volunteer their time this break to help rebuild housing in New Orleans, Louisiana from the lingering devastation from Hurricane Katrina and other natural disasters. The student organization, Young Life, will be representing Hilbert College for its second year in New Orleans while serving with an organization called Saint Bernard Project.

Saint Bernard Project (SBP) is a non-profit organization established in March 2006 to rebuild homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina within St. Bernard Parish, located in Southeast Louisiana. A little more than 11 years later and there are still and estimated 3,000 families in New Orleans whose homes are in need of repair. To date, SBP has rebuilt nearly 700 homes in New Orleans and lends its helping hand in 11 US states.

Students will spend their days hard at work, doing varying tasks from carpentry and construction to demolition and landscaping. As these students prepare to leave on Saturday March 4th, they ask for your prayers and good intentions to accompany them. Follow along in their journey by keeping tabs on #HilbertNOLA17 on Twitter and Instagram!

If you wish to learn more about these students’ journeys, email Jpeters@hilbert.edu for more information!

Photos from last year’s trip