Emory Report
November 2, 2009
Volume 62, Number 9


   

Emory Report homepage  

November 2, 2009
Join the ranks of Emory Cares

By eric rangus

With nearly two weeks to go before the kick-off of the 7th annual celebration of Emory Cares International Service day, there are already 24 opportunities for community service.

You can shadow an emergency room doctor at Grady Memorial Hospital, clean up Oakland Cemetery or Hahn Woods, or help sort donations for refugees living in the city. If those options don’t interest you, there are at least 21 more to choose from.

“Emory’s ties to its Atlanta home are very strong, and the University is active in a variety of communities here,” says Kerry Gallo ’11PH, administrator of Emory Cares for the Emory Alumni Association (EAA), which founded the first University-wide Emory Cares Day in 2003. Last year, Emory Cares drew more than 450 volunteers in Atlanta alone.

“Emory’s campus is so large and our alumni community so spread out, it’s not easy to bring everyone together. Emory Cares is an ideal way to do not just that, but also give back to the wider community that has been so supportive of us,” Gallo continues.

Students, faculty and staff make up the majority of Emory Cares volunteers in Atlanta, and the partnerships across the University are getting more robust. Volunteer Emory and the EAA have worked together since 2007 to plan and execute Emory Cares in Atlanta. For 2009, nearly a dozen Emory student, campus and administrative organizations and units are teaming up for Emory Cares.

Getting involved as a volunteer is easy. A full list of campus-based volunteer opportunities as well as registration information can be found at www.alumni.emory.edu/campuscares.

Volunteers can register as individuals or as part of a group. Check-in begins at 12:30 p.m. on McDonough Field and transportation will be provided to project sites. For volunteers who arrange for their own transportation, directions to their off-campus project site will be e-mailed to them prior to Nov. 14. An Emory Cares wrap party — refreshments provided — will conclude the day at 5 p.m. in the DUC.

Beyond campus, projects also are being held in Roswell, Jonesboro and at Oxford College. A full list of these and other Emory Cares projects can be found at www.alumni.emory.edu/emorycares.

The Emory Cares Web site also lists all the cities that are hosting Emory Cares projects, and alumni volunteers, who plan and administer the entire process themselves, bring a lot of passion to their work.

“I love that energy that is created by the fact that the Emory community is doing something worldwide and that you are a part of something much bigger than yourself,” says Kat Hedrick ’89B, project coordinator for a shoreline cleanup at White Rock Lake in Dallas.

If Emory recruits 1,000 volunteers worldwide for Emory Cares, they will likely be helping 10,000 people with their efforts — probably more.

One of the key thoughts of Emory Cares is that the celebration is an “international” service day. And 2009 offers the most projects abroad ever, with alumni in Argentina, Hong Kong, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, South Africa and South Korea hosting Emory Cares projects.