40 Acts of Kindness and Civic Engagement

In the words of the organizers of the event.....

The Locks of Love Committee would like to thank the campus for your participation in our hair donation event yesterday. Locks of Love uses donated hair to create wigs for children suffering from cancer and other illnesses. The event was a huge success. The event aired on the NBC 10 5:00 news, so kudos to our marketing team for helping us get the word out. We would like to thank our hair donors, especially those who went the distance - so to speak - and donated 10 or more inches of hair. We had a total of 25 hair donors from our student body, faculty and staff, alumni, and the community and were able to donate close to 250 inches of hair. We would also like to especially thank the 12 stylists who donated their time and talent to make our event successful. The salons are listed below if you'd like to show your support. Thanks also to all of you who came to event to cheer us on and show your support. The event was a great culmination to the 40 Acts of Kindness.

Sincerely,

Joanna McGowan, Dava Murray, and Kathryn Diamond

 

Hot Heads, Media - Salon Bella, Broomall - Gravity, Ambler - Byron & Co Hair Designs, Glenolden - Supercuts, Media - Joseph Anthony, Glen Mills - Elite Hair Designs, Wilmington

Corporate Communications major Danielle Lites is leading an effort to give old glasses new life!  Her and her fellow teammates have joined with the Lion's Club in collecting old eyeglasses that will be donated to help others across the globe.  The campus donations will become a part of the 20 million eyeglasses that are donated to the Lion's Club each year!

On Monday, March 31, Marilyn Cohen, COO and Director of Education from the National Liberty Museum, came to campus and presented a seminar on "The Power of One."  Her seminar was filled with examples on how one person, from Nelson Mandela to Sharon Katz and her Peace Train, can spark a movement and make a difference in the lives of others.  The students in attendance were literally moved to tears, listening and reflecting upon the content of the presentation.

On March 13, 2008, the Penn State Brandywine campus was honored to welcome guest speaker Margaret Akullo Elem.  Ms. Elem is the Chairperson of the Lango Female Clan Leaders' Association, The Greater North Women's Voices for Peace Network, and Campaign Against Domestic Violence in Community (Cadovic).  She fights for women's rights at all levels of society, specifically in northern Uganda.  She detailed the grassroots movement she initiated, using mass media (specifically radio) to educate women about their rights and ways to access justice.

The grand idea to fill a Gulfport, Miss., camp with philanthropic-minded Penn State students and staff will become reality as 70 students, faculty and staff from five Penn State campuses descend upon Orange Grove Volunteer Village on March 9-14.

This year, an alternative spring break program became a University-wide opportunity to support Katrina Relief and to help residents clean up and rebuild.

A group of PSU Brandywine students are spending spring break in Santiago, a Mayan village on Lake Atitlan in the highlands of Guatemala.  This year the students will be leading reading activities in the new children's library and working in a rural pre-school.  They also anticipate planting trees in an area where mudslides caused much damage and death during Hurricane Stan in Fall 2005  In addition, they are possibly participating in a garbage processing project and in a research project which is studying causes of and remedies for lake contamination.

The challenge - to cut/sort/add $4,000 worth of coupons in four hours to send to our adopted military base, the U.S. Navy's Yokohama base in Japan.

We certainly have quick and efficient cutters on campus!  Thanks to the donations of coupons from the campus and our friends at Granite Farms Estates, we cut and collected $8,176.78 worth of coupons!  These coupons will certainly make a difference in the lives of our military members and their families.

For information about the Overseas Coupon Program, please visit:  http://www.ocpnet.org/

On March 7, 2008, Penn State Brandywine experienced a true act of civic engagement.  Former President Bill Clinton visited the campus to speak on behalf of Hillary Clinton as she seeks the Democratic nomination for President.  President Clinton addressed such topics as energy sources (wind and solar), health care, No Child Left Behind, student loans, and why we need to be prepared to work and exist in a global community.  Congressman Joe Sestak (in photo below with the President) provided the introduction before the 45-minute speech.

Clinton's visit was an outstanding way for the campus to participate in this exciting election year.  Thank you to the Student Government Association for inviting the candidates to campus!

Ann Karlen, from White Dog Community Enterprises, was our second invited speaker for the Clarence D. Bell Public Service Lecture Series on March 3, 2008.  Ms. Karlen is the founding director of Fair Food, where the mission is to make connections between Philadelphia chefs and farmers in southeast Pennsylvania.  She also spoke extensively about the Farm to Institution initiative.

A group of energetic staff and students joined the Nittany Lion in providing dinner for the residents of the Ronald McDonald House in Wilmington, Delaware.  Residents were treated to a pasta dinner, while the children were able to play games and get their photo taken with the Lion.  The campus collected donations from the House Wish List and filled an overflowing wagon with donations.