On Saturday, April 21, 2018, alumni across the country spent their Saturday giving back during the 10th Annual Alumni Day of Service. Roughly 450 participants logged 1,485 volunteer hours at 40 different sites, truly making a difference in their communities.
Carrie Drummond, ’11, celebrated her Kent State pride in Raleigh, North Carolina. She spent the day working for Habitat for Humanity of Wake County ReStore, and had a great time with her fellow Golden Flashes.
“It's really nice to connect with fellow Flashes and hear about their experiences back in Kent," Carrie said. "Especially being all the way down in North Carolina, we all like to reminisce about what we miss from Ohio. Two people in our group recently visited Kent, so we talked a lot about how much the city has changed since we were in school."
Jacquelyn Searfoss, ’62, organized her own project, which was a new component for this year's Alumni Day of Service. Her group spent the day with the Streetsboro United Methodist Church making sleeping mats out of plastic bags for the homeless.
“It was great having wonderful, enthusiastic volunteers attend our mat making event from not only our church and Streetsboro, but also from many neighboring churches and communities as well," Jacquelyn said. "Hopefully each year our charitable efforts to reach out will become even more wide spread.”
She and her group were inspired to volunteer for Alumni Day of Service because they saw it as a chance to bring their Kent State pride to their church.
“I saw the opportunity to unite Kent State's Alumni Day of Service with our church's outreach program to the homeless," Jacquelyn said. "It seemed like a great opportunity for our church's act of philanthropy to be expanded to include anyone in the area interested in helping with the mat making efforts."
Giving back is nothing new to Allison Kocheff, ’09, who also organized her own project. She worked with Amherst Indoor Performance Ensemble, which is a group of 40 high school musicians and dancers who compete in regional and championship competitions. Allison has been working with the group for the last six months.
“As a teacher, I have a love for students, but I was also a classically trained dancer," Allison said. "When I was approached to help this project take off, I immediately agreed. It has been an amazing few months teaching and watching these students grow into something amazing."
Allison encourages other alumni to start giving back as soon as they can.
“Don't wait," she urges. "Find something you enjoy that gives back. It will make it that much more enjoyable for the individuals you are working with.”
In addition to service sites in the United States, alumni organized a service project in Sao Carlos, Brazil at Our Friend Project, a non-profit working with children.