FINAL BLOG POST

We are excited to embark on our mission to promote literacy to all age levels throughout the world. Education and literacy is something many people take for granted or don’t have access to.  We are a student group on campus at the University At Albany enrolled in the Communication 304 Group Leadership course. Our names are (from left to right) Andrea Alarcon, Jen Martin, Maddi Waterbury, Chris Brognano and Chris Barker.

We wanted to find an organization that has a passion to give to those who are less fortunate than we are. We decided that the Salvation Army would be the perfect organization to help us achieve our goals. They have the same vision we have. With the help of the Salvation Army, our group was able to promote literacy by donating numerous books to those in need.

http://www.salvationarmy.org

Giving Back to Athletics (Group 2-B)

          We are the members of group 2-B in the Group Communications class taught by Professor Yonkers at the University at Albany. Our names are Alex, Janice, Myrlande and Pete and for our service project we are giving 20 hours of our time to help the different athletic events that occur on campus.

We decided to work athletic events as our service project because we are all involved in athletics at the university and we would like to give back to show our appreciation to the school for providing us with the chance continue to participate in our sport. One organization we choose to help is the USATF Adirondack Association, the region’s track and field service provider for any meet in the area. Here we worked different areas of a track meet such as raking the jumping pit or timing races while supporting the athletes competing.

                Fan Fest is a school organization that helps bring in students and Albany residents to the Chance to Dance basketball event for the America East Conference and provides them with different activities to participate in. We helped different activity stations run smoothly and allowed spectators to have fun in between games.

                Helping these organizations has allowed us to experience what it is like to be on the other side of an athletic event. It felt nice to give back and help young athletes and spectators have a good time at the different events we worked at and we hope that their experience would want them to compete for the university someday. 

group 4b- Go Green

  Our group, B4, is made up of members Jin Woo, Taylor, Xheni, Amanda and Ilana. For our community service, we collaborated with UAlbany Green Scene, meeting on Mondays and Wednesdays to catch people ‘green handed.’ Our task was to seek out students in the Campus Center and on the academic podium using reusable bags or mugs. We would then approach them and enter them into a raffle to win a Kindle HD.  We would thank them for using environmentally friendly products and encouraged them to keep it up. Our group usually met up with the Green Scene student leaders in front of the 518 Market at 12:30 p.m. We have managed to meet four times during this semester, performing an hour and a half of community service each time.

Our group members shared feelings of practicing good environmentally friendly behaviors, which is why we decided to volunteer our time with the Green Scene. We also liked that the raffle offered an incentive for students to start using reusable items. Because this community service took place on campus, it was accessible for all members and allowed everyone to be present at the same time.

Doing this type of community service as a group has had a great impact on the way we all communicate with each other, but also on the way we set goals on completing specific tasks. Walking around campus talking to random students could get a bit overwhelming, so as a whole we decided to split into two teams, the boys and the girls. We then decided that it would be helpful if we had one specific person, who felt more comfortable approaching random people, to explain the mission of the Green Scene and offer the raffle ticket. The rest of us spoke to the students about the benefits of entering the raffle. Splitting everyone’s tasks was completed with ease because we all have diverse and unique skillsets. We have all learned that it is important to split the work between everyone in the team, and then continually communicate with each other to have the best outcome possible. The Green Scene community service has also given everyone a boost of self-pride because we were helping reinforce positive behavior and giving back to our college community. Finally we have all learned and practiced skills such as organization, leadership and responsibility throughout the course of this project.

Project Inspire - Group B-8

Hello, our group is B-8; the names of our members are Corey Wiley, Hans Hyppolite, Mikey Nau, Everol Taylor, and Brendon Chen. For our class of Group Communication 204, we have been given a project to complete. The service project that our group is involved in includes working with an on campus community organization called Project Inspire. Our community service has included helping local immigrants with learning English, helping to serve food at a local soup kitchen, as well as assisting in the Pine Hills clean up. By April 23rd, each group member will have worked 5 hours each. This will allow us to complete our goal of 25 hours of community service.

One of the organizations that we have been working on with Project Inspire is RISSE, or the Refugee and Immigrant Support Services of Emmaus. This is a local organization that aims to “equip refugees and recent immigrants to build sustainable, independent lives by offering language and literacy instruction, as well as support with life skills and integration into U.S. culture and community.” This is located in Albany at 715 Morris Avenue. We each had the chance to work with someone one on one and help them with learning what would be considered Basic English. We went over simple topics such as the weather, colors, numbers, and even seasons. The people that we got the chance to work with were very grateful and appreciative. One lady even gave the Project Inspire community service chairperson a quick lesson in speaking Muslim. We chose this location because it gave us an opportunity to help and also learn while helping. You can find out more about this organization at their website: http://risse-albany.weebly.com

The next location that we chose to work at is the Capital City Rescue Mission. Unlike a regular soup kitchen, the Capital City Rescue Mission not only feeds those who are in need, but they also spread the word of God while doing it. They are “dedicated to proclaiming the life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ to the homeless and needy of the capital region, providing for the whole person body, mind, and spirit, that they will return to society maturing in Christ as productive citizens.” This is located in downtown Albany on Pearl Street. We each had a role in serving those who needed it with a hot meal after their church service. After helping with serving the meal, we helped out with the cleanup process. This was a real eye opener, because as college students we tend to take for granted the things that we have. These people were so appreciative for our help and even invited us to return in the future. We chose this, because we wanted to work hands on and directly help those who need it the most. More information can be found out at their website: http://capitalcityrescuemission.com.

Finally, our group assisted with the annual Pine Hills cleanup. This community service opportunity was pretty self-explanatory. We decided to do this as a backup just in case our first 2 opportunities weren’t able to fit everyone’s schedule. The cleanup was not only helpful to the community, but also fun. We got to see other on campus organizations work together for the greater good. All in all, a very rewarding experience.

Therefore, we feel that our work has greatly impacted those that we helped. It was not only an opportunity to help others, but to humble ourselves. When you get so caught up in life you forget that not everyone has it as easy as you do. You then take little things like speaking and eating for granted. This was a really valuable experience and we would be happy to help out again.

Ronald McDonald House

As a group, we decided to use a parallel writing style as our model of writing. Since we are meeting virtually for class today, we split up the sections of our blog and each wrote one. Then, we sent each section to Caila, who is the Editor. She combined all of the sections to complete our assignment. 

Hello! We are group 7- Joanna Egles, Caila Friedman, Angelica Zielinski, Samantha Kraese, and Carly Jenkins. We are proud to say we will be working with the Ronald McDonald house as our part of the community service learning project in our Group Communication class at SUNY Albany. As volunteers spending time at the Ronald McDonald house, we expect to be involved in a number of different tasks with the children and families that are in the house. Some of the fun, yet helpful activities we will be a part of is baking, reading, organizing, etc. Collectively, we will work a total number of 25 hours, which is 5 hours per group member, as volunteers.

Through our groups service involvement with the Ronald McDonald House located in Albany, NY we were able to provide support for the children while also helping the families meet their needs by lending a helping hand. We had the opportunity to be meal partners where we make baked goods for the children in the house. In addition we also we able to be in-house volunteers where we assist in the day- to-day activities of the house such as answering phones and doing light housecleaning work. Our service to the Ronald McDonald house has given our group the chance to better the lives of these children and their families through our combined 25 hours of service in the house. As a group, this service has reminded us how important it is to give back and help our community whenever we can. The impact of our service on the Ronald McDonald house is immeasurable. It was our mission to lend a helping hand to those families and their children and assist them in reaching all their needs. It has been the greatest satisfaction to all of us knowing that we helped them meet those needs.

Our work has impacted our group because it gives us all a sense of accomplishment that we did something good for children who are ill. Our community service work is completely going to children who are ill and in the hospital. Whether we may be helping the Ronald McDonald House for Charity by baking cookies or brownies for children in a hospital, or reading to them, it shows us all that by giving back, we can really help make children feel better and make them a little happier given their situation. We all really enjoy working with this charity for our community service. We really hope that the time we put into this charity was really helpful and beneficial for the charity itself, the people involved in the charity, and the children who are involved in this charity. 

Relay For Life, Group B5 ACOM 204

            In group communication our group made of Brianna Fortuna, Pareese Hankerson, Keenan Mitchell, Christopher Smith and Keaton Tuller is doing a volunteer project. Our group has decided that we will volunteer for Relay for Life, which is an organization for support and fighting of cancer. In total our group will successfully complete 25 hours which is 5 hours per group member.

            The organization Relay For life collects donations from the public in hopes for finding the cure of cancer. Our group will be at the event on April 26^th, 2014 at the SEFCU arena. The organization lets people come together from the public, from survivors, to family of lost loved ones to just people supporting the cause. Teams that participate in Relay For Life are asked to walk around the track in support of the organizations efforts. To follow the idea that cancer never sleeps, Relay For Life asks that at least one team member per team remain on the track at all times. Our group decided to work with Relay for Life for our community service project because some of our group members have already worked for the organization themselves and feel comfortable with the organization.

General Relay for Life website:

http://www.relayforlife.org/

SUNY Albany’s Link for Relay For Life:

http://relay.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLCY14EA?fr_id=56732&pg=entry&__utma=54177207.1352129794.1398074783.1398074783.1398074783.1&__utmb=54177207.6.9.1398075233665&__utmc=54177207&__utmx=-&__utmz=54177207.1398074783.1.1.utmcsr=google|utmccn=(organic)|utmcmd=organic|utmctr=(not%20provided)&__utmv=-&__utmk=106067591

            The work Relay For Life allows our team to support a very important cause. Some members of our team are personally affected by this terrible disease. Also, some of our group who are not personally affected have participated in this event because they are a supporter of what Relay For Life wants to accomplish. When our group completes the event everyone will feel happy and satisfied with completion of the event.

Special Olympics New York- ACOM 204, Group B-3

          Our group consists of Amber Vogel, Jake Bickel, Ryan Hughes, Chelsea Lewis and Lauren Leavitt. We are working together in Group Communication and we will be doing a bake sale to raise money for the Special Olympics. Our goal is to obtain a total of 25 community service hours through this bake sale.

The goal of our project is to raise money for Special Olympics New York. We chose this organization because we believe in the ideals they represent and stand united with their efforts to help individuals develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in the sharing of skills and friendship with their families, Special Olympics athletes and communities. Our project of working with the Special Olympics New York has 2 phases.  The 1^st phase involves Jake working in the office for a day to help with clerical work.  The 2^nd phase calls for a bake sale on campus to fundraise donation money to deliver to Special Olympics New York.

Special Olympics New York is a non-profit organization that offers regional, state, and national competitions for intellectually handicapped people of all ages.  The main mission of this organization is to allow these athletes to not only let them compete on an equal playing field but to learn the many lessons that sports has to offer. For more information on the Special Olympics of New York, check out their website.

Our service learning project will not only help us improve our ability to work in teams (a skill many of us will need for our future careers), but will also help the Special Olympics New York to be able to provide support to countless handicapped people across New York State. We are proud to be helping this organization and hope to be successful in raising money to support the work they are doing.

 

 

Relay for Life

            Hey guys! We are group B-6 in Group Communication. Our group members are Michele Canale, Mackenzie Cary, Ali Carbone, John Anthony and Jackson Ruggiero (Group B-6). For our service-learning project, our group will be working with the American Cancer Society Relay for Life. Each member will individually raise money for the charity, which we will then pool together and submit as a group to the Relay for Life chapter at UAlbany, collectively donating around 30 hours of our time.

            The Relay for Life is an organization within the American Cancer Society that raises money for cancer research, awareness, and the entire fight against the disease. Specifically, the Relay for Life is an overnight community fundraising walk. Teams of people gather around the track and take turns walking laps throughout the night. Relay for Life allows members of the community to form teams and actually participate in walking the event, or they allow teams to raise money and donate to the event. 

                                      

            Each individual in our group has different schedules, so we decided that the best way to donate our time and raise money for the Relay for Life would be through individual efforts. Mackenzie and Michele both donated a portion of their tips earned from bartending to the Relay for Life. John, Jackson, and Ali each spent five or more hours of their time raising money, asking for donations around campus and at their jobs. On Saturday, April 27^th, our group will bring the money raised to the Relay for Life registration at SEFCU Arena on the UAlbany campus.

            Our contributions and donations to the Relay for Life will help the American Cancer Society’s goal in finding a cure for not just one type of cancer, but also every single cancer. Specifically, our group will help UAlbany’s Relay for Life reach their goal of raising $100,000. 

Ronald McDonald House

Hello Everyone!

            The community service project that we, Group B-1, worked on for class (Group Communication 204) was service at the Ronald McDonald House. Group members consisted of Haley Lamberg, Julia Schuettenberg, Melisa Balais, Amanda Tinaphong, and Nick Pizza. Our group completed five hours of community service at the Ronald McDonald house by providing our time to bake for the families that live there.

Ronald McDonald House Charities main purpose is simply to help families in need. There are three platforms in which they do this: The Ronald McDonald House, the Ronald McDonald Family Room and the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile. We decided to focus our efforts on the Ronald McDonald House, which acts as a home away from home for families of seriously ill children in nearby hospitals. The stress from treatment for the children can place a great burden on these families. The Ronald McDonald House aims to help them get through this difficult time as a support system and a sense of comfort is established at the house. Upon hearing of the organization's mission statement, we felt impassioned to help! We can't fully encompass the ordeals the families must go through but we can help. Some things such as a home cooked meal go unnoticed with the stress of treatment but the Ronald McDonald House acts as that safety net and escape and that is what we wanted to be a part of.

Our community service project for the Ronald McDonald house was to bake brownies and cookies for the families staying at the house.  Every meal made at the Ronald McDonald house is through donation and volunteering so our group became a part of the effort to feed the families.  These houses are located throughout the country and we worked with the Ronald McDonald House Charities of The Capital Region which was located on South Lake Avenue adjacent to the Albany Medical Center.

Our group had a wonderful experience at the Ronald McDonald house. While the cookies were in the oven, we got to tour the house and see all the beautiful artwork and themes of each room. We found this nice because it adds creativity and fun to the house. This is important because the families that would be living in the house are going through a difficult time and every little bit counts. The house is filled with fun things and activities to do. We learned a lot about the Ronald McDonald house, their mission, and what they do on a daily basis. Once we found out that every meal is based on volunteer services, we were shocked. This was a great eye opening experience and it felt amazing to help out with these services. 

Book project to Africa

How we Started

Book collection in progress

Hello everyone ! We are group 3 which include: Mellisa Balais, Tanasia Peaock, Mike Lentini, Dotou Zannou, and Dynani Dawes.  We’re a small group of students who are currently enrolled in a communication leadership and group conference course at the University at Albany. We are currently working on a project that will involve us sending books to different organizations around the country. As a group, we are going through the necessary tasks to obtain a wide variety of books to send to people around the world. We have decided to send the books to people who don't have the privilege of picking up a book any time they want, and people who are just in need of a little relaxation with a good book. As a collective group decision, we will  fund raise to cover the shipping cost of these books to get them sent out on-time. Some organizations we are closely working with are, Alpha Omicron Pi, Sankofa Africa, and Albany State University Black Alliance.These organizations have agreed to help us donate at least four of each member's personal books, plus books that the organizations has collected themselves. Through them we will be sending the books to different deserving groups such as, Soldiers Overseas, and Children in Africa.

 

Sankofa Africa Organization

Albany State University Black Alliance

 Alpha Omicron Pi 

Darian Book Aid Project

Hello! We are group 6. We are very excited to announce our book project for Leadership and Group Conferencing course at the University of Albany. Professor Yonkers has provided us with the tools to reach out to these originations by organizing assignments such as blog posts and memos to present our group in professional manner when contacting these organizations. For our book donation project we have all agreed to collect at least 5 books ranging from children’s stories to college course textbooks, making it a minimum total of 25 books. We have chosen the Darian Book Aid to send our donation to. Darian Book Aid is a non profit, all volunteer organization that builds a foundation of peaceful, reliable standing and friendship by distributing free books for the needy. Darian Book Aid provides books and supplies to specific requests from Peace Corps volunteers, libraries and schools all over the world. Books are also donated to prisons, hospitals and native American groups thought-out the United States.

Collectively we chose the Darian Book Aid organization because of their efforts is far reached and they accept a wide verity of books. Because the Darian Book Aid organization accepts a wide verity of books we felt that this was the best organization for us. It is important that donations reach all types of people in need thoughout the world.  Our group is required to supply the books along with the shipping cost to the organization. Once the supplies are received the Darian book aid organization provides supplies and international shipping costs.