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Hamilton’s Alternative Spring Break (ASB) group in Virginia helped build a Habitat for Humanity house during the first week of spring break, March 16-23. The Hamilton students worked with Hanover Habitat for Humanity in Mechanicsville, where they helped build a house for a family in need.

The Community Outreach and Opportunity Project (COOP) is teaming up with Hamilton’s Physical Plant staff and Greek Philanthropy Union to provide 125 hams for Country Pantry, Clark Mills’ soup kitchen. The hams will feed 165 families on Easter.

While many of their counterparts hit beaches and ski slopes 102 Hamilton students are spending a week of their spring break volunteering at one of 10 nonprofit organizations for Alternative Spring Break (ASB), March 16-31.

Look at campus e-mail on any given day during Hamilton’s academic year and chances are there’s a service opportunity seeking volunteers. The people behind these numerous events are the Community Outreach and Opportunities Program (COOP) Senior Fellows – Danielle Lashley, Ramya Ramnath and Amy Soenksen. They coordinate volunteer requests with local non-profits, plan events and organize volunteers.

Hamilton students involved with the Community Outreach and Opportunity Program (COOP)’s service internship program gathered with their sponsors for a breakfast on Feb. 12 at COOP offices in the Chapel. The COOP Service Internship (CSI) program provides paid internships for service experience in a local nonprofit office over the student’s first four semesters.

In what has become an annual tradition, Hamilton Association for Volunteering Outreach and Charity (HAVOC) and Community Opportunity and Outreach Project (COOP) collected food, gifts and other items to make the holidays a bit happier for some local families in need.

Members of the men’s lacrosse team spent the week after Thanksgiving volunteering in the Hamilton Against Hunger program. All of Hamilton’s athletic teams take turns collecting leftover food from the McEwen dining hall to donate to the Utica Rescue Mission.

Rebuilding Together is the largest national volunteer home rehabilitation organization in the United States. The local branch, Rebuilding Together Mohawk Valley (RTMV), has been assisting the elderly, physically and mentally disabled, and working poor in the local area since 1997.  Nick Solano ’14 began working with RTMV during his sophomore year and was recently appointed executive director of the local organization.

Eight members of the class of 2016 are getting the chance to change the world for the better as Community Outreach and Opportunity Program (COOP) Service Interns.  The students, all of whom  had outstanding service records while in high school, become interns for local nonprofits during their first two years on the Hill.

On Oct. 4, members of the Hamilton community gathered to learn about social innovation and careers in social entrepreneurship through a panel discussion sponsored by the Levitt Center, the Career Center, and the COOP.