MOUNT VERNON – A few Cornell College freshmen spent their Saturday elbow to elbow with the college president, sorting donations at a Goodwill collection site. Other new students helped the college dean clean apartments in a low-income neighborhood.
They were among nearly 350 Cornell students, faculty and staff contributing 1,400 hours of community service in a single day — Saturday, Sept. 3 — before opening the school year today. Volunteers worked from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at approximately 25 sites around eastern Iowa.
New Student Orientation Service Day marked its 11th year at Cornell, where approximately three-fourths of Cornell’s nearly 1,200 students participate in service projects annually.
“Having the entire first-year class engage in service during orientation teaches them how important it is to volunteer your time and your talent, and that leadership in any form begins with service to others,” says RJ Holmes, a staff member in Cornell’s Division of Student Affairs and an alumnus who participated in Cornell’s first Service Day, in 1995. “After graduation from Cornell, I’ve made it a priority to volunteer in the communities I’ve lived in, and NSO Service Day helped start me on that path.”
Among the projects were:
- Gathering and sorting donations at Goodwill West in Cedar Rapids. Cornell President Les Garner, his wife, Katrina, and their son, William, assisted the student crew. This was one of five Goodwill locations in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City where Cornell groups worked.
- Cleaning apartments and the grounds for the Mid-America Housing Partnership at the Osada Apartments, Cedar Rapids. Brenda Tooley, in her first year as dean of the college, assisted more than 30 Cornell volunteers. The apartments could be used to house Gulf Coast residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
- Cleaning the grounds at Lisbon schools. Working at this site was RJ Holmes, a member of Cornell’s Division of Student Affairs who participated as a student in Cornell’s first Service Day, in 1995.
- Painting the dugouts and bleachers at Davis Park, Mount Vernon.
- Cleaning the facilities and exercising the dogs at the Cedar Valley Humane Society, Cedar Rapids.
- Installing insulation at a house for Habitat for Humanity, Iowa City.
