Alternative Spring Break informational meetings

Have you thought about a spring break service trip?  NOW is the time to investigate and sign up!  Come to one of these ASB Informational Meetings to learn all about past service trips and plans for spring 2013!

 

Wednesdays 10/31 and 11/7 at 8:45 PM, Burnham Lounge, Gorham

Tuesdays, 11/6 and 11/13 at 6:30 PM, Woodbury Campus Center Dining Room, Portland

 

--and/or e-mail your interest to Ali Godbout, ASB Student Leader, alison.godbout@maine.edu. 

 

 

 

 

Andrea Thompson McCall, Director

-Community Service Learning

-Religious and Spiritual Life

University of Southern Maine

P.O. Box 9300

Portland, ME 04104-9300

 

Phone 207-228-8284

FAX 207-228-8403

Call to Action: Student Response to Sandy

I am sharing this message from PIRG, with a reminder that if you're a student or group of students interested in responding individually or as a group, our staff is ready, able, and willing to provide support.  Perhaps this could be the focus of an Alternative Spring Break project???  Let us hear from you if you're interested!   -ATM

======================================

Hi,

First and foremost, I hope you and your friends and family on the east coast are safe. As we assess the damage, I know we have a lot of work ahead of us.

For the last 24 hours I've been glued to my Facebook newsfeed, Twitter, the news, and my phone - anxious to hear that the people I care about are OK, and hoping that the damage is minimal.

Today, we can all do more than watch and wait. Here's how you can help:

• Sign up to volunteer. (We're making plans to host fundraisers and relief events on campus)
• Download our organizing toolkit to get started planning events of your own.
• If you're able, please also take a moment now to donate to the Red Cross's relief efforts.

Be safe,
Lilly Adams
The Student PIRGs

P.S. This storm has had devastating impacts outside of the United States as well, particularly in the Bahamas and the Caribbean. In Haiti, where they are still recovering from both the 2010 earthquake and the ongoing cholera outbreak, an estimated 200,000 were left homeless as a result of four days of ongoing rain from Hurricane Sandy. You can make donations to help Haiti at OxfamAmerica.

 

 

Andrea Thompson McCall, Director

-Community Service Learning

-Religious and Spiritual Life

University of Southern Maine

P.O. Box 9300

Portland, ME 04104-9300

 

Phone 207-228-8284

FAX 207-228-8403

Hurricane has intensified the urgent need for blood donations.

This urgent appeal from our community partner at American Red Cross Blood Services.  There is an additional blood drive scheduled on the Portland campus for December 11th, but in the mean time, donations may be made at the Donor Center on Ashmont Street, just off Forest Avenue behind the Great Lost Bear (easy walking distance from the Portland campus).  Regards, ATM

 

§ Sandy has forced the cancellation of approximately 250 American Red Cross blood drives in 11 states along the East Coast, resulting in a shortfall of more than 8,000 units of blood and platelets thus far.                  The Red Cross moved blood products to the areas most likely to be affected by Sandy so that these products will be available during and after the storm.                 The storm may cause power outages and flooding in many areas along the East Coast, which will most likely result in the cancellation of additional blood drives and platelet donations throughout the week.                 While Sandy will affect the number of people available to donate, hospital patients still need blood and platelets despite the weather.                 Blood drive cancellations have occurred in Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington DC and West Virginia.   § The Red Cross is urging immediate blood and platelet donations in areas unaffected by this storm and asks that community members consider donating blood in affected areas once the storm passes through and it's safe to do so.  It's the blood that is already on the shelves that helps save lives before, during and after a disaster.  To schedule an appointment to donate blood or platelets, please visit us online at redcrossblood.org or call 1-800-RED CROSS. Please be aware the Red Cross anticipates unusually high call volume over the next several days from those directly affected by the storm and you may experience delays. o To give blood, someone must be at least 17 years of age, meet weight and height requirements and be in general good health. Donors should bring their Red Cross blood donor card or other form of positive ID with them. Some states allow 16-year-olds to give with parental consent.     § The Red Cross will move blood products to affected areas as necessary.                 Nationwide, around 44,000 blood donations are needed each and every day to meet the needs of accident victims, cancer patients, and children with blood disorders. These patients and others rely on blood products during their treatment.                 When disaster strikes, this need does not diminish, even though blood donors may find it difficult or impossible to get to a convenient donation opportunity.                 If collections are negatively impacted by a disaster, the long-term needs of these patients could also be affected.                 If people will make an appointment to donate blood in the upcoming days and weeks ahead, blood will be available in the aftermath should conditions prohibit people in some parts of the country from traveling or coming to blood drives.

 

 

Jennifer Goldman

Account Executive

American Red Cross

524 Forest Avenue

Portland, ME  04101

(207)775-2367 (t)

(207)699-6028 (c)

Goldmanjr@usa.redcross.org

 

 

 

Andrea Thompson McCall, Director

-Community Service Learning

-Religious and Spiritual Life

University of Southern Maine

P.O. Box 9300

Portland, ME 04104-9300

 

Phone 207-228-8284

FAX 207-228-8403

Food Support for students

As we move into the winter season, there is reason for concern about food insecurity among students who do not have meal plans, particularly those who are parents.  Difficult financial choices may need to be made, and food assistance may become a real need.  We are offing information on our web site about food support available to students in Portland and in surrounding Cumberland and York counties:

 

http://usm.maine.edu/community/food-support-students

 

We will be adding information about guidelines for federal food assistance under the SNAP program and other supports for food security as we are able.  In addition, we're exploring possibilities for direct food assistance within the university community, and I will welcome ideas about how that might work and what capacity we have --particularly in Portland-- to accomplish such an endeavor.

 

 

 

 

Andrea Thompson McCall, Director

-Community Service Learning

-Religious and Spiritual Life

University of Southern Maine

P.O. Box 9300

Portland, ME 04104-9300

 

Phone 207-228-8284

FAX 207-228-8403

Leaf Raking Help for a Gorham Neighbor

A Gorham community member who lives alone and is frail has depended upon USM students for the last several years to get her yard cleared of leaves before the snow falls.  Can you and a group of your friends or student organization members help her this fall?  Four or five people can do it in a couple of hours, and it's near (but not walking distance) the Gorham campus.  Please reply to me (atmccall@usm.maine.edu)  or to Molly DeCleene (mdecleene@usm.maine.edu) if you can.  -ATM

 

 

 

Andrea Thompson McCall, Director

-Community Service Learning

-Religious and Spiritual Life

University of Southern Maine

P.O. Box 9300

Portland, ME 04104-9300

 

Phone 207-228-8284

FAX 207-228-8403

Parkside Neighborhood Center "Giveaway Day"

As you may know, USM has a multi-level partnership with the Parkside Neighborhood Center, which gores back to its inception through a grant written by our own Professor Kim Moody.  Currently, we have social work interns and many (though never enough!) students in service learning and community service roles with the King (Middle School)-Parkside After School Collaborative (K-PAC) and the Nightlight after school tutoring program.  But there are always other ways for us to help.  Here's one of them:

 

Several times each year, Parkside holds a "Giveaway Day" for members of the Parkside community.  It's just what it sounds like:  Donated items from caring members of the greater Portland community are sorted as for a rummage or yard sale, but they're free to anyone in the community who needs them.  You can help by donating adult, children's, and baby clothing (winter wear!), books, toys, and baby and household items.  Clean and washed and bed-bug free, please!  Diapers are always a need, and donations of diapers of all sizes are most welcome.

 

Donations may be dropped off at Sacred Heart Church on Friday, November 2nd from 9-11 AM and from 4-6 PM.  (No, I'm sorry; we can't accept donations here on campus.)  Volunteers are needed to help with receiving and organizing donations on Friday.

 

The Giveaway is Saturday, November 3rd from 10 AM - 1 PM.  Volunteers are needed to help staff the event, especially 12-2.

 

If you can help in any of these ways, please contact Rachel Horton White, Parkside Director, at rachel.white@opportunityalliance.org  or 553-5940.

 

 

 

 

Andrea Thompson McCall, Director

-Community Service Learning

-Religious and Spiritual Life

University of Southern Maine

P.O. Box 9300

Portland, ME 04104-9300

 

Phone 207-228-8284

FAX 207-228-8403

Camp Sunshine's Pumpkin Fest

Join Circle K and other USM students at Camp Sunshine's Pumpkin Fest on Saturday, October 27th. Students will be volunteering from 3-9pm. Feel free to attend the event or come and volunteer with the group. This is a big fundraiser for Camp Sunshine, so spread the word and see you there!

 

For more information check out their website: http://www.campsunshine.org/pumpkinfestival/portland_home.html

 

If you have any further questions about the event, contact mdecleene@usm.maine.edu.

 

Thanks,

 

 

 

 

Molly De Cleene

Office of Community Service Learning

University of Southern Maine

Programs Coordinator- AmeriCorps VISTA

 

Phone: 207.780.4537

Fax: 207.228.8403

Eliot Cutler on Service TONIGHT

In case you missed this, a reminder about tonight's Muskie School lecture, which is free and open to the public.  -ATM

 

 

Eliot Cutler - "Public Service Opportunities and Obligations"
October 17, 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Lee Community Hall (Rm 133), Wishcamper Center

Eliot Cutler - founding chair of One Maine, Muskie School advisory board member, entrepreneur, and public servant - will talk about the challenges and opportunities that public servants and state and local governments will confront during the next two decades in Maine. We need to change Maine's equations. How do we make Maine younger, wealthier, more efficient, and more diverse?

Eliot Cutler has forged a 40-year career marked by success in government service, law, and business. As an aide to Senator Edmund Muskie, he helped craft the Clean Air Act, the Water Pollution Control Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act. From 1977 to 1980, he served as Associate Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and was President Carter's principal aide in the environmental, natural resources, and energy areas. A graduate of Harvard College and Georgetown University Law Center, Cutler is Emeritus Trustee of the Thornburg Investment Trust, a family of publicly traded mutual funds. Cutler also was the first American member of the board of directors of the worldwide construction company Skanska AB and a director of the International Law Institute.

 

 

 

Andrea Thompson McCall, Director

-Community Service Learning

-Religious and Spiritual Life

University of Southern Maine

P.O. Box 9300

Portland, ME 04104-9300

 

Phone 207-228-8284

FAX 207-228-8403

One America Reads Position remains!

If you care about kids and community, and have a Federal Work Study Award, you may be eligible to fill the last remaining America Reads position.  The successful candidate will spent 6-10 hours/week of work-study payable time serving as a reading role model for kindergarten and first grade students at Ocean Avenue Elementary School.  Training and support/supervision is provided.  For more information or to apply, contact Diana Katz McDermott at diana.b.katz@maine.edu.  ONLY STUDENTS WITH WORK STUDY AWARDS SHOULD APPLY!

 

 

 

Andrea Thompson McCall, Director

-Community Service Learning

-Religious and Spiritual Life

University of Southern Maine

P.O. Box 9300

Portland, ME 04104-9300

 

Phone 207-228-8284

FAX 207-228-8403

College Experience Day

College Experience Day is coming up and we need your help!

 On Wednesday October 24th, students from local high schools will be coming to USM for the day to get a taste of college. These students are from all over the world, and our goal is to give them a valuable experience by allowing them to go to college classes, have a campus tour, and talk with current USM students and the admissions staff.

 We are looking for USM students to act as hosts and escort the high school students to classroom visits and join them for lunch in the Woodbury Campus Center. Please let us now if you are interested in helping us on this very special day.

Thank you!

Amanda Maddalone

AmeriCorps VISTA
Program Coordinator
Office of Community Service Learning
University of Southern Maine
(207)780-4679

Have you volunteered at Preble Street? Will you help a sociology student?

If you are now or have been a volunteer at Preble Street, you can be of considerable help to a sociology student.  If you're willing to give a half hour interview about your volunteer experience at Preble Street, please e-mail me here: atmmccall@usm.maine.edu.  Consider how grateful you'd be, if it were your assignment, and please do it!  -ATM

 

 

Andrea Thompson McCall, Director

-Community Service Learning

-Religious and Spiritual Life

University of Southern Maine

P.O. Box 9300

Portland, ME 04104-9300

 

Phone 207-228-8284

FAX 207-228-8403

Give Service, Get Lunch!

The service project for Commuter Week 2012 is:

 

Partners for World Health - a nonprofit organization that collects and distributes discarded medical supplies to third world countries and educates people about global health.

 

Friday, October 5th from 10am-1pm

• Receive an introduction to the Partners for World Health organization
• Give back to the community
• Meet USM students with similar interests
• Share a meal with us over some discussion

To join us for the event simple reply to this message and meet us at the Woodbury Campus Center on Friday at 10am. Spread the word and see you there!

 

 

 

 

Molly De Cleene

Office of Community Service Learning

University of Southern Maine

Programs Coordinator- AmeriCorps VISTA

 

Phone: 207.780.4537

Fax: 207.228.8403

Civic Matters 2012

Announcing the 4^th Annual Civic Matters Symposium being held November 16, 2012.

Civic Matters is a USM symposium put on by the Office of Community Service Learning. The event celebrates community-engaged work across USM disciplines that enriches student learning and addresses community-identified needs. Through this type of work students gain greater engagement, academic success, and civic learning. Collaborative works are showcased through:

·         Poster sessions

·         Oral presentations

·         Engaging community conversation on service learning 
 

We encourage USM students, faculty, staff and community partners to present their work.  Projects from a previous semester, from a course you are teaching or enrolled in this fall, and on-going research are all eligible.  Please visit the Civic Matters Submission Guidelines before submitting a proposal to present. To submit your project, view our application online: Civic Matters Submission Form. 

**Please submit project proposals for the event by Friday, October 12^th, 2012.** 

For more information contact Alicia Ethridge at asampson@usm.maine.edu or (207) 228-8092.

 

 

 

 

 

Molly De Cleene

Office of Community Service Learning

Programs Coordinator- AmeriCorps VISTA

 

Phone: 207.780.4537

Fax: 207.228.8403