Sept. 23, 2002

Rensselaer Community Pitches In on Community Service Day

In a show of support for local organizations and the city of Troy, university faculty, staff, and students will contribute their time and energy to various volunteer assignments around the area on Community Service Day, Saturday, Sept. 28.

Students clean Prospect Park (archival photo).

The date is the second in the series of monthly Community Service Days that kicked off Aug. 31. Future ones are scheduled for Oct. 26, Dec. 8, Jan. 20 (in conjunction with the Martin Luther King Jr. celebration), Feb. 15, and March 29. The fifth annual "RPI Community Day of Service" will be Wednesday, April 16.

Volunteers can help construct the ARCH Program home in South Troy, sew patches for a Habitat for Humanity quilt, or clean up areas around Louis Rubin Memorial Approach, to name a few of the activities taking place Sept. 28.

"It's really a great way to give back to Troy and all of its residents," said Cynthia Smith, assistant dean in the Office of the First Year Experience (FYE), the campus group organizing the day's events. "Plus, it's also a good way for faculty, staff, students, and the people of the city get to know one another and work together."

Community Service Day is an initiative of the Office of the FYE's aptly named Community Service Committee, which works cooperatively with volunteer groups and Troy to build a sense of neighborhood. Each year since its inception in 1999, hundreds of Good Samaritans have volunteered for Community Service Day.

For more information, contact the Office of the First Year Experience at ext. 6864 or fye@rpi.edu, or visit the Web site at www.rpi.edu/fye/commservice/index.html.