On Saturday, Sept. 20, Hamilton Association for Volunteering, Outreach, and Charity (HAVOC) hosted their once-a-semester campus-wide volunteer day, Make-a-Difference Day, with over 100 student sign-ups to over 10 different sites across the Clinton, Kirkland and Utica areas. However, while HAVOC notably organizes this event in the Fall and will host MLK Day of Service in the Spring, volunteers support local community organizations and volunteer with local organizations all year long, thanks to HAVOC outreach and organization.
Outreach for this event and weekly volunteer programming can be based on individual or group sign-ups, with organizations like sports teams of Greek Life organizations visiting sites as a collective, to provide consistent volunteering.
Prior to the event, Phoebe Sheehan ’28, Co-Director of HAVOC, who contacted a range of local community organizations, gauging their interest in participating in this event and their availability for volunteers. While sometimes it may be difficult to coordinate availability with weekend hours and weekday availability during class hours, “there’s always some place, somewhere that needs help,” said Sheehan.
“This event requires a lot of effort from everyone because there are a lot of logistics to figure out from organizing transportation to ordering T-shirts,” Faith Han ’26, a HAVOC Site Coordinator, told The Spectator.
The timing of the event was not an accident either. Sheehan said, “We try to do [Day of Service] as early as possible, just so that especially incoming freshmen can be like, ‘Oh, ok!’” It’s also an opportunity for students of all years to meet new peers, get off campus and spend the day making a positive difference in the local community.
“You might not think what you’re doing has a huge impact or really does help, when I email sites and they get back to me and they’re like, ‘Please send us volunteers,’ it’s because they can’t find people to do it and they can’t get it done by themselves,” Sheehan told The Spectator. “Even though you might not think what you’re doing has a big impact, it really can.”
One community that expressed particular gratitude for the support was Players of Utica, a community theatre organization—the oldest continuously producing community theater in New York State—run by Kelly DeGrace. “She’s amazing,” Sheehan recounted. “She emails me… ‘We really need help after the tornado, because there’s stuff everywhere… can I just please have a list of names of volunteers, so I can make them hand written thank you cards? And I brought them candy. I have tomato pie. I have water for them.”
Another site included in the Day of Service was the Utica Zoo. According to Sheehan, “Every single person I’ve talked to was like, ‘That was the best!’ They helped stain a fence… and they finished way early and the guy was like, ‘Hang out in the zoo!’”
Other sites included Rome Art and Community Center, Green Utica, Hope House and CNY Veterans Outreach, among others.
“I think it has been a really great experience, especially since it was my first time going to Utica and volunteering with the Hope House. My favorite experience was exchanging with the Hope House Manager, Mookie, and getting to help individuals in need by serving them food for breakfast and lunch. Giving back to the community is truly priceless,” Rosie Oberto ’29 said, after volunteering at the Hope House.
“This year’s Make a Difference Day was a great success with over 100 volunteers!…” said Faith Han ’26. “I’m happy to see so much engagement in community outreach and hope to continue these efforts throughout the year!”
