Report Your Project Graduation Collection Totals Now!
Project Graduation,
Phi Theta Kappa's community service initiative that calls on community
college graduates and their guests to help battle hunger and illiteracy,
is making again making a difference.
Chapters throughout Phi
Theta Kappa, in the United States and abroad, are asking graduates and their
families to bring canned goods and books to the commencement exercises,
for donation to local service agencies.
However, while hundreds
of chapters participate in Project Graduate, they must report
their collection totals so their participation may be counted.
To
date, chapters have reported Project Graduation collection totals of
28,028 books and 28,874 food items.
While Project Graduation
participation requires very little effort to achieve success, some chapters
have found unique ways to heighten awareness of their events.
Chapter
members at Butte College in California, working with other campus groups,
devised an entertaining method to boost Project Graduation food collections.
Campus groups collected canned goods and created sculptures from the donated
items.
"You CAN, We CAN, Butte CAN Help Fight Hunger" was the
name of the event. Canned goods sculptures included a roadrunner (Butte
College's mascot), a rattlesnake, and the Phi Theta Kappa chapter entry,
a food pyramid with the Society Greek letters. A total of 1,189 cans and other
food items were then collected by the chapter and distributed to two food
banks in surrounding communities.
At Valencia Community College's
West Campus in Florida, chapter members created an information Project
Graduation brochure, which was included in the packets sent to all graduating
students and their families. Brochures were also distributed on campus.
The chapter worked with sister chapters at the Winter Park and
Orlando East campuses to collect 847 books and 636 food items.
Chapter
members at Clinton Community College in New York collected items and also
raised funds to benefit the Greater Plattsburgh Interfaith Hospitality
Network, whose mission is to temporarily house homeless families and provide
such support services as job counseling, home economics classes and referrals.
Using
collection boxes and a bake sale fundraiser, the chapter was able to donate
personal hygiene items, household goods and clothing, and $300, in addition
to food and books.
At Union County College in New Jersey, members
chose to use Project Graduation collections to support children diagnosed
with cancer, and their families. More than 300 books and 100 food items were
collected for the local Ashley Lauren Foundation.
