MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE COMMUNITY LENDS HAND
TO LOCAL COMMUNITY SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. – Staff, student, and faculty volunteers from Mount Holyoke College will donate their labor to 14 community service organizations in South Hadley, Holyoke, Chicopee, Easthampton, and Granby on Thursday, September 26, during the College’s third annual Day of Giving.

The event, sponsored by the College’s Facilities Management department and Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, drew 43 enthusiastic Facilities Management workers in its first year. The Day of Giving was expanded last year to include staff, faculty, and students, and more than 75 members of the community took part. Again this year, the MHC community is invited to participate in the program, which offers hands-on help to the College's neighbors.

“I was chosen more for my will than my skill,” jokes groundskeeper Ted Hamel of his position as site coordinator. He notes that although he needs the expertise of MHC's skilled tradespeople to do electrical, plumbing, and carpentry work, he also has plenty of jobs for those who do not have technical skills—from clearing brush to shampooing rugs to painting walls. “You will get dirty; that's a promise,” he says, “but it's very rewarding work.” Hamel worked closely with Day of Giving Coordinating Committee members – Chris Domina of Facilities Management, Shelley Richard and Barbara Pare of Financial Services, Dean Andrea Ayvazian of the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, John Bryant of Facilities Management, and Lauren Turner of Human Resources – in planning this year’s event.

Employees who are scheduled to work on September 26 will be paid by the College for their volunteer time. “Through the Day of Giving, Mount Holyoke puts into practice its traditional commitment to community service,” says Turner.

Crews will gather at Facilities Management's Otto C. Kohler Building at 8 AM and travel in College vehicles to these work sites: Womanshelter/Companeros, Main Street Shelter in Holyoke, South Hadley Council on Aging, God is Love Church in Easthampton, South Hadley Historical Society, the Camp Lewis Perkins Girl Scout camp in South Hadley, Jericho House in Holyoke, Holyoke Catholic High School (now at St. Hyacinth’s Seminary in Granby), Kate's Kitchen, the South Hadley Knights of Columbus, and several Valley Opportunity Council organizations.