Make a Difference Day

This is a national day of doing good. On this day, communities all over the country organize service projects that focus on meeting the needs of the community.

Community Involvement Day

The project serve day is a new volunteering opportunity, for students to get involve in the Oswego community.  Upon the first week of school, Center for Service Learning and Community Service organized this event to help improve the community and bring enjoyment to the lives of others.

Alternative Spring Break

Each year SUNY Oswego students travel to a designated location in the U.S. to aid in building a Habitat for Humanity house.  Students travel together during their spring or winter break to share in social and cultural experiences and aid a family in need.  Students perform short-term projects and learn about issues such as literacy, poverty, racism, hunger, homelessness, and the environment. The objectives of an alternative break program are to involve college students in community-based service projects and to give students opportunities to learn about the problems faced by members of communities with whom they otherwise may have had little or no direct contact.

During this past Spring Break, from March 22-29, 2008, more than 25 students headed to Maine and West Virginia, to participate in SUNY Oswego’s/Habitat for Humanity Alternative Spring Break.  Students came back both invigorated and overwhelmed by the experience and said it was one they would never forget.

The application for the Spring 2009 is now available on the Habitat for Humanity web page!

ALSO! This year we will be hosting 4 different sites, Head Start in Bridgeton, NJ, Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center in Greenfield, NH, Habitat for Humanity in Murfreesboro, TN, and Operation Helping Hands in New Orleans, LA! If you are interested in participating, fill out an application and turn it into our office, 142 Campus Center by Friday November 21 by 4pm. Click on the following link for the application! Alternative Spring Break 2009 Application.

Hunger Banquet

Did you know that 842 million people suffer from chronic hunger?!  Habitat for Humanity puts on an annual Hunger Banquet to heighten your awareness of global hunger. A Hunger Banquet is a dramatization of the inequality that perpetuates poverty in the world. Guests are assigned roles as they enter the banquet, these roles represent different income levels around the world. What each person receives for dinner depends on the role they are playing, so while some have more than they can eat, others don’t have enough to eat or any food at all. A Hunger Banquet is an interactive opportunity for people to see and feel first hand the effects of poverty. It also offers the unique opportunity for people to take a problem and work together to generate solutions.  This year’s Hunger Banquet was held in the Forum on March 12, 2008.  To experience this eye opening event, look for the Hunger Banquet in the 2008-2009 year.

Senior Ball

Our Adopt-a-GrandParent program annually holds an end of the year Senior Ball each spring semester to put a closure on a great year.  Local nursing home residents, their staff, and our volunteers are invited to the college for an exciting, well deserved night of dinner, live music, dancing, and fun.  The event is held to honor the residents and our volunteers, and celebrate the relationships they have built. 

Sleep Out

Every year, SUNY Oswego’s Habitat for Humanity, sets out to accomplish something that most people hope they will never have to do: spend a night sleeping in a cardboard box. The annual Sleep Out event serves to raise awareness and collect food for the homeless in the Oswego area. Groups of students draw attention to the plight of poverty-driven homelessness by spending the night in a box of choice in the quad of campus, some even “compete” to build the best cardboard house and to endure the greatest number of hours spent outside at night.  The objective is to encourage more and more to become involved in the event to make a serious statement on the problem of poverty.

Recognition Dinner

At the end of the spring semester, the Center for Service Learning and Community Service coordinates a Recognition Dinner to celebrate the accomplishments of volunteers, faculty, staff, and community partners who were involved in volunteerism or Service Learning throughout the year.  Those who have shown a superior level of dedication are recognized by our site coordinators.  This formal dinner is a way to commemorate the lasting impact those involved have made on both our campus and local community.