The GIVE Center sets semester-long goals

As the Spring semester kicks off, so does the busy schedule of The GIVE Center. With a loaded calendar, the center has many different community service projects planned.

A major project that The GIVE Center is planning this semester is the second annual Purple Glove Dance. This follows the success of the first video released last year on YouTube. The video was created to raise awareness and donations to support Relay for Life and includes Georgia College students and faculty wearing purple gloves and dancing for a cure for cancer. The first video was well received, now up to 40,149 hits.“Because of the Purple Glove Dance’s success on YouTube, (The GIVE Center) plans on using social networking a lot more this Spring,” said Kendall Stiles, Director of The GIVE Center.

This March, The GIVE Center will be holding a Dance Marathon in the Magnolia Ballroom. The marathon will benefit Children’s Miracle Network, an international non-profit organization that raises funds for children’s hospitals, medical research and community awareness of children’s health issues.

As always, The GIVE Center will travel on Spring Break to complete various different projects to help the chosen community. This year’s Spring Break Service Week, the group will be traveling to Savannah, Ga. Details have still not been fully worked out yet, but the projects will depend on the need of the community.

Another event being held this semester is The GIVE Center’s annual Giving Tree Ceremony. According to marketing graduate assistant Kenneth Morris, who works at The GIVE Center, the ceremony is to celebrate a chosen senior that has been very involved in The GIVE Center. A tree will be named after the student. The ceremony is based on Shell Silverstein’s, “The Giving Tree.” The Giving Tree Ceremony will be held at the end of April.

The GIVE Center’s semester was launched on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It was one busy day of volunteering for the center. With over 300 volunteers in total, The GIVE Center gave over 2,000 volunteer hours. According to Stiles, The GIVE Center has been doing this same type of volunteering day for the past five years, but this was by far the biggest day of giving yet. This was just one of many days of hard work to come.

“While the weather was less than cooperative, we had a great morning at our site,” sociology professor and participant in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day service projects Stephanie McClure. said.“Our volunteer crew included a large and enthusiastic group of Georgia College student volunteers, in the form of a service sorority here on campus, and another group of excellent volunteers from Georgia Power.”

Martin Luther King Jr. Day was just a sneak peek of all the giving to come from The GIVE Center this spring. Many are very excited about all of the projects coming up.

“I’m really excited to see that more students are getting involved and there are more service projects going on to benefit Milledgeville and Georgia College.” McClure said.

Posted by SabrinaChandler on Feb 10 2011. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.