Want to learn more about Susan G Komen for the Cure?

Take a look at this video..

The video describes how Susan G Komen for the Cure began and what it means to women and men around the world.. Make sure you have a few tissues next to you.. Or maybe a box!

“WE WILL”

Susan G Komen for the Cure

Susan G Komen for the Cure (originally Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation) was founded by Komen’s sister, Nancy Brinker. Brinker began the organization as a promise to her sister whose life was cut short due to a three year fight with breast cancer. In the timeline you will find dates and information starting at the birth of Susan Goodman Komen through today.

When Susan G Komen lost her battle with breast cancer, only 30% of women received routine mammograms, only 74% of women who caught the cancer early on survived, and the government issued only $30 million dollars to the research, treatment, and prevention of breast cancer.

Now, in 2009, because of Nancy Brinker and her global breast cancer movement….

 75% of women over 40 now receive regular mammograms, the single most effective tool for detecting breast cancer early.

The five-year survival rate for breast cancer, when caught early before it spreads beyond the breast, is 98%.

The Government now devotes more than $900 million each year to breast cancer research, treatment and prevention.

“America’s 2.5 million breast cancers survivors, the largest group of cancer survivors in the U.S., are a living testament to the power of society and science to save lives.”

(Numbers according to komen.org)

Click here to view the Susan G Komen for the Cure Timeline

Timeline Time

Have you ever heard of Susan G. Komen for the Cure? I’m sure you have. But what you might not know is that the foundation was started by a woman named Nancy Brinker. Why the two different names? Check in soon for a timeline detailing the lives of these two strong women..

Giving Tree

It’s that time of the year again and the Rowan Rec Center is giving back and giving us the opportunity to do so as well…

There is a giving tree, or a green felt giving tree I should day, on the wall as soon as you walk into the Rec Center. Never been there? It’s the large building next to the big colorful shapes. The Rec Giving Tree is full of ornaments and these ornaments contain a gender (male, female, or unisex) and the present idea. The next part is easy.. Grab any ornament you’d like off of the tree (they are in shapes of bells, reindeer, stockings, gingerbread men.. well you get the point). Then bring the ornament up to the front desk where they will have you fill out your name, gift, ornament number, and email. The rest is up to you! Just purchase the gift(s) and return it to the Rec Center.. It doesn’t even have to be wrapped!

Where are these gifts going?

Currently, the community service division of the Rowan Rec Center is planning a large community service event, during which poor and homeless children from HomeFront will visit the Rec Center for a holiday party. At the end of the party Santa will visit, bringing gifts for all of the children in attendance and even those who could not make it. Please help the Rowan Rec Center bring holiday joy and spirit to these children whose spirits have been quite low.

Rec Center Giving Tree

Giving Tree Instructions

Quote of the Day

I came across this quote and it made me think. I thought I’d share it…

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Margaret Mead

Margaret Mead

(photo from google.com)

Success Stories

HomeFront is dedicated to helping people help themselves. As stated below, it is a non-profit organization serving the poor and homeless in Mercer County, New Jersey.

In 2007 HomeFront….

• Gave shelter to 450 people on an average night
• Gave more than 70,000 meals to homeless families
• Gave educational help to more than 500 homeless children
• Helped nearly 100 parents find decent work

Since then, these numbers have increased. Here are two success stories that describe the significance and importance of HomeFront…

Val’s Story: Homelessness Can Strike with Almost No Warning

Sara’s Story: HomeFront Client Recalls “My Place of Miracles”

I hope you enjoy reading these stories as much as I did!

HomeFront: “Helping Families Break the Cycle of Poverty”

HomeFront is an non-profit agency serving the poor and homeless in Princeton, Lawrenceville, Ewing, and Trenton. Below is an excerpt from HomeFront’s website.

HomeFront’s Mission:

 “HomeFront programs provide emergency shelter and transitional and affordable housing. Our mission is to meet the immediate needs of food, shelter and safety and to help the troubled families break from the cycle of poverty. We work with single mothers, single fathers and families with histories of domestic violence, child abuse, drug abuse and intergenerational welfare. We also work with normal families who just cannot make ends meet in a declining economy.”

Because of the way the economy has been, a record number of families looked to HomeFront for help last year. This past April 1,059 “heads of the household” came to HomeFront. This is a 57% increase over 2008.

 Want to help?

HomeFront holds Volunteer Orientation meetings at 6pm on the first Wednesday of each month. Meetings are held at HomeFront headquarters at 1880 Princeton Avenue in Lawrenceville. To register to attend a meeting, email getinvolved@homefrontnj.org.

Not able to make a meeting, but want to get involved?

Contact Alicia Portalatin at (609)989-9417 x133 or at AliciaP@homefrontnj.org for information about ways to get involved and help out.

The Rowan Rec Center will be hosting a holiday event for children from HomeFront. I will have more information on this event next time.

“HomeFront believes that Americans have the will, the energy and the heart to help when given a chance.”

The Office of Service Learning, Volunteerism & Community Engagement

The Office of Service Learning, Volunteerism & Community Engagement is the place for students to go if they want to get involved in the community. There are many ways to get involved and many projects going on each day and each weekend. The office is located on the top floor of the student center. The door is always open, and everyone inside is more than willing to answer your questions, help you find service projects and volunteer events, and help you become more involved. There are flyers hanging up in the office that students can take or look at with information about each event. In the office you will also find sign up sheets for each event and program. To get information monthly, send an email to volunteer@rowan.edu and you will receive monthly updates about events and projects around the area. Here are some pictures from the center!

The SLVCE Center

Event Flyers in the Office

Interview: Andrew Perrone

Andrew Perrone

Andrew Perrone is the Assistant Director of the Office of Service Learning, Volunteerism and Community Engagement. Perrone has held this position for only a few months at Rowan. Before coming to Rowan, he was employed at a university in Florida, doing the same types of things he does now. Perrone was very willing to let me interview him and he is very willing to help any Rowan student help the community. He is very passionate about what he does, about giving back, and about giving students opportunities to find themselves while giving back to the community. Below is the question and answer session I had with Andrew Perrone, along with a short audio clip about what volunteerism means to him.

 Question:

 What kind of things do you do?

 Answer:

 There are three main things our office does. The Service Learning part of our office is we work with faculty, so we’re working with different faculty across campus to incorporate service activities and community work in their classrooms. So we try to tie what the curriculum is to what the community needs. It is really part of the course so it counts as credit and its like any paper or project you have to do. That’s what service learning is. Volunteerism, being the second one, is our work with individual students and student groups– so getting students active in doing community service projects as a group or as individuals. We help students get connected with service projects and community needs. And lastly, community engagement is being the link between the university and the community. So we find out what’s out there and we stay connected with agencies and non-profits that are looking for student volunteers.

 Question: 

What kinds of events or service opportunities are coming up at or around Rowan?

 Answer:

We just started our teacher’s assistant program where we work with Rodger’s Elementary School in Glassboro with pre-k and kindergarten classrooms. We have student volunteers going in and working directly with teachers in classrooms as an assistant. We have another educational program, called Junior Achievement. We are working on recruitment right now and trying to get more volunteers to come in and through that you get trained by the Junior Achievement staff to go in and teach lessons in schools for kids. There are countless other things that agencies are doing on their own and they want volunteers and we include that in the newsletter and try to recruit students for things that they are doing. On top of that are all the drives and donations and collections that we are doing.

Question:

 What would you tell a student who would like to get more involved, but is unaware how to?

 Answer:

We have a couple ways to find out about service opportunities and events that are going on through our office. We have an electronic newsletter that goes up that any student can sign up for. Any student can just email us at volunteer@rowan.edu and ask to be added to our email list. It goes out once a month and it includes any activity that’s coming up in the next six weeks. We also have some hard copies in our office. We also have different sign up sheets on the bulletin board in our office.

 Question:

Say someone is a full time student, has a part time job, and is very busy. How can they still be involved without taking on too much?

 Answer:

The number one thing that we try to push on students around here is that first you have to take care of your academics. We try to make sure you take care of your classes and job first and then we can fill in with other things. So those are the priorities. We want to make sure you are staying in classes, doing well, and able to financially support yourself. What we try to do through our office is provide a wide variety and varying opportunities for how to get involved. So we don’t have only weekend or afternoon or morning things. We have an assortment of all of this. So we can sit with each individual student, talk about your schedule and your commitments and then find something that matches up with what time you have available so that you can stay productive and stay successful as a student, stay with your job, and also fill in and supplement with some good experiences in the community.

Below is an audio clip from the interview where Andrew Perrone explains what volunteerism really means to him:

Download Andrew Perrone – Interview

Something to look forward to..

Would you like to get involved but you’re not sure how? Do you want to give back to your community but you don’t know where to start? Well look no further! I interviewed Andrew Perrone, the assistant director of the Office of Service Learning, Volunteerism & Community Engagement. Andrew answered all different kinds of questions and gave me very detalied information. I will be posting the interview soon so..

..Keep checking in!