For Immediate Release
September 25, 2001

MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE'S "DAY OF GIVING"
BENEFITS EIGHT NONPROFIT AGENCIES

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. – At an apartment building for low-income residents in Chicopee, new baseboard heaters will keep the laundry room warm when the weather turns frigid. At a church in Easthampton, walls will rise around a new child care center. And at a Girl Scout camp in South Hadley, outbuildings will get new roofs.

At these and nine other locations in the Pioneer Valley, more than 75 students, staff, and faculty will take part in the College's second Day of Giving on Friday, September 28. Donating their services, these volunteers will wield paintbrushes, hammers, saws, electrical pliers, rakes, shovels, and other tools in the service of eight nonprofit organizations.

The Day of Giving was established last year by the College's Facilities Management division and Office of Religious and Spiritual Life. With the success of last year's event, which involved 43 Facilities Management workers, this year's was expanded to include staff, faculty, and students.

The event was the idea of Stephen R. Page, a heating and air-conditioning specialist with the College. "Everybody had fun, and we did a lot of good work," says Page, who is helping to coordinate this year's event.

"Everybody on every site did amazing work," says Andrea Ayvazian, the College's dean of religious life, who traveled with Page last year to visit each location. "Folks were working with a wonderful spirit, doing the most professional work, giving of themselves completely. It was MHC at our best," Ayvazian says.

George R. Marchinos, property manager for Camp Lewis Perkins, has a hard time trying to place a value on the college's volunteer work. "We really wouldn't survive without them, let's put it that way," Marchinos says. The improvements made at last year's Day of Giving – repairs to buildings, clearing of trails, the installation of sinks in each bathroom, and more – were enjoyed by thousands of Scouts this year, he says.

Crews will be deployed from the College at 8 AM and will spend their workdays on site. Work crews are to return to campus by 3:30 PM. The nonprofit organizations that are receiving help are: Girl Scouts of South Hadley (roofing, electrical work, plumbing, and grounds keeping at Camp Lewis Perkins), God is Love Church of Easthampton (carpentry), Womanshelter/Companeras (cleaning and painting), Valley Opportunity Council (cleaning, painting, carpentry, and installation of air-conditioning at five sites in Chicopee and Holyoke), South Hadley Historical Society (removal of carpeting at The Sycamores), Jericho House in Holyoke (landscaping), and the Holyoke Soldiers' Home (grounds work).

--- end ---