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Release date: Nov. 9, 2006 Service Day to Unite Emory Community Worldwide
Contact: Eric Rangus: 404-727-3390, 404-788-3578, eric.rangus@emory.edu From a Habitat for Humanity build in New Orleans to volunteer service in cities ranging from Atlanta to Seoul, South Korea, Emory University will demonstrate the spirit of its community this Saturday, Nov. 11 as part of Emory Cares International Service Day. Emory Cares is the signature service project of the Association of Emory Alumni (AEA). Through Emory Cares, alumni chapters across the country and around the world coordinate and lead a wide range of service projects that benefit their home communities. All together, alumni in 28 cities are hosting projects, including Atlanta where alumni, faculty, staff and students will volunteer at 25 local nonprofit organizations. This year, Emory President James Wagner and his wife, Debbie, will lead a group of more than 50 Emory alumni, staff, faculty and students who are traveling from Atlanta to New Orleans to volunteer at an Emory Cares-sponsored new home-build with the New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity Nov. 10-11. Emory's Habitat build will be in the Upper Ninth Ward at the "Musicians' Village." The village, conceived by New Orleans natives Harry Connick Jr. and Branford Marsalis, will consist of 81 Habitat-built homes for displaced New Orleans musicians. While New Orleans is Emory Cares' most prominent service project, it's far from the only one. Emory alumni will staff food banks in Boston, Minneapolis and San Francisco, plant trees in Houston and vegetables in an urban garden in Birmingham, Ala., volunteer at a Boys & Girls Club in Denver, and help restore oyster habitats in Charleston, S.C. "The theme of this year's Emory Cares is 'The Spirit of Community: Lead the Way to a Better World,' and that's really what the Emory community is all about," says Leslie Wingate, Emory's senior director for alumni programs and a 1982 graduate of Emory College. "Emory's alumni are leaders, and Emory Cares is a great way for them to not only give back to their community but also strengthen their relationships with each other." Emory Cares has grown in size every year since its founding in 2003. The AEA's 2006 efforts were greatly helped by a $25,000 donation from Renelda Mack, a 1983 graduate of Emory College and organizer of the first Emory Cares. She received the J. Pollard Turman Alumni Service Award earlier this year for creating Emory Cares and earmarked the $25,000 gift from the Tull Foundation as part of the award to help fund Emory Cares. Emory Cares in Atlanta will begin at 1 p.m. on McDonough Field on Emory's campus. Service project assignments will be handed out and transportation to those sites will be provided. Many of the projects were coordinated by Volunteer Emory, a student-run organization for volunteerism, and many volunteers in Atlanta will be current students. The AEA's Atlanta Young Alumni group (alumni under 30 years old) will sponsor an Emory Cares project at Senior Citizens Services, at 1705 Commerce Drive in Atlanta, and there also will be an Emory Cares project on Emory's Oxford College campus. In all, Emory Cares projects will be held in the following locations: Arlington, Texas; Atlanta; Barcelona, Spain; Birmingham, Ala.; Boston; Charleston, S.C.; Chicago; Denver; Durham, N.C.; Hollywood, Fla.; Houston; London; Los Angeles; Miami; Minneapolis; New Orleans; New York; Orlando, Fla.; Philadelphia; Phoenix; San Francisco; Savannah, Ga.; Seattle; Seoul; Tampa, Fla.; Washington; and Yonkers, N.Y. ### Emory University is known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate college of arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities. For nearly two decades Emory has been named one of the country's top 25 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools, the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, the state's largest and most comprehensive health care system. Subscribe to News@Emory RSS feeds for automatic updates of the latest news at Emory. |
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