September 21, 2011
"What A Difference A Day Makes"
On Saturday September 24, the St. John's University community
will celebrate the spirit of St. Vincent de Paul by serving those
in need throughout the world during the 10th Annual University
Service Day, which spearheads the start of our 2011 Founder's
Week.
More than 1,600 students, faculty and administrators from each
campus location (Manhattan, Oakdale, Paris, Rome, Queens,
Salamanca, and Staten Island) will join together to serve our
communities locally and abroad.
On the Queens Campus the St. John's Men’s and Women’s Basketball
programs will team up with the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation
(PCRF) and participate in the inaugural "Dribble for the Cure"
fundraising event. The run or walk event where everyone dribbles a
basketball, will take place from 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m. with proceeds
from going to support the PCRF Laboratory at Maria Fareri
Children's Hospital. This event will also give participants the
opportunity to meet and get autographs and photographs with their
favorite players from the St. John's basketball teams and head
coaches
Steve Lavin and
Kim Barnes Arico.
University participants will also volunteer at St. John’s Bread
and Life in Brooklyn, some teams will be weeding, cleaning and
planting at the nearby Queens Botanical Gardens and Forest Park,
and more than 35 volunteers will help run a family day carnival at
HeartShare First Step in Richmond Hill. Throughout the day,
volunteers will be serving the hungry in soup kitchens, visiting
residents at nursing homes, engaging in activities with
disadvantaged children, painting rooms in nearby schools and
community centers, and providing assistance with so many other
important projects.
On site at the Staten Island campus, volunteers will participate
in the annual tradition of making a six-foot wreath, made of
memorial ribbons and cards for those who battle with Breast Cancer,
which will go on to be displayed at different venues throughout
Staten Island. Nearby on Willowbrook Road, others will be on
prepping for a fundraiser being put on by Lifestyles for the
Disabled that will be held later on that day. Additionally, several
other University volunteers will be at a few of the local nursing
homes (Carmel Richmond Nursing Home, Lily Pond Nursing Home, Silver
Lake Specialized Care Center and the St. Elizabeth Ann’s Healthcare
and Rehabilitation Center) while others will be at the Community
Health Action of Staten Island Community Food Pantry, the Cross
Roads Foundation and the Trinity Lutheran Soup Kitchen.
Since the inception of University Service Day in 2002, members
of the St. John's community have fostered strong relationships
with some of these local and international outreach organizations
that have grown beyond this one day experience.
University Service Day kicks off the 2011 Founder’s Week
Celebration. Most Rev. David M. O'Connell, C.M., J.C.D.,
Bishop of Trenton, will deliver the Vincentian Chair of Social
Justice Lecture at 4 p.m. on Monday, September 26 in St. Thomas
More Church on the Queens campus. For more information on Founder’s
Week, please visit www.stjohns.edu/foundersweek.
For more information on any of the Service Day sites, please
contact Elizabeth Reilly, Associate Director of Media Relations at
St. John’s, at reillye@stjohns.edu, or by
calling (718) 990-5789.