The Community Outreach and Opportunity Project (COOP) offers community service opportunities that connect Hamilton students and employees with Oneida County non-profit agencies. Our goal is to create positive change for our community partners and educational experiences for our students.
Community Service Office Seeks to Build Lasting Relationships
October 2, 2009 On October 1, a new era in Hamilton community service was ushered in with the official opening in the Chapel of Hamilton's new Community Outreach and Opportunity Project (COOP), a coalition of students and faculty that aims to increase Hamilton's involvement with community service. The ceremony featured short addresses by staff members involved in COOP, as well as keynote speaker Steve Culbertson '79, president and CEO of Youth Service America, an organization dedicated to increasing availability of service and volunteer projects to young people.More ...
466 Members of Class of 2013 Volunteering in Community
Contact: Holly Foster 315-859-4068
August 26, 2009
Members of Hamilton's class of 2013 will have a quick orientation to the area that will be their home for the next four years when they embark on the second Hamilton Serves! volunteer orientation effort on Aug. 26. All 466 first-year students will spend four hours volunteering at 46 non-profit agencies in the area.
Amy James, Hamilton's director of outreach and orientation, is coordinator of the program. "We're thrilled to be doing this for our second year and feel that both the students and the community benefitted in both tangible and intangible ways," she said. "Last year some hard work was done that needed doing, and the students who provided the "person power" learned a lot about the community - and hopefully something about themselves in the process. We hope this and other Hamilton programs will pave the way for further involvement and successful partnerships in the future," James said.
The student volunteers will be working on a Renaissance Fair and pet show at the Presbyterian Home, managing a children's art fair and program at the Rome Art and Community Center, having a luau at United Cerebral Palsy, and moving props and set pieces into the new Players' Theatre of Utica. Others will do landscaping and outdoor work at St. Elizabeth's Hospital's Nurses Park and work on playground and athletic facilities at Clinton schools.
Other area Hamilton Serves sites this year include Root Farm, the Utica Public Library, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Refugee Center, Rescue Mission, Hope House and Masonic Care Community.
Urban Service Experience (USE) 2009 Concludes
Largest number of participants in the history of the USE program donate over 900 hours of service to their local community.
34 first year students participated in preorientation service projects in Utica, led by upperclass leaders.
projects were conducted in partnership with Habitat for Humanity of Oneida County, The Neighborhood Center, The Underground Cafe, Johnson Park Center, Sculpture Space, Hope House, the Thea Bowman House, and Faith Furniture.
