Serving Together | Fall Bonner Service Days

Serving Together | Fall Bonner Service Days

December 20, 2019 Stories from ACE 0

This semester the Bonners participated in two service days- one at Community Miracle in Action’s second annual Rocktoberfest and another in November at RISSE and Girls on the Run. These events were coordinated in partnership with students serving at the site, and the following are three reflections on the day from Freshmen Bonners Maura, Tori, and Samantha. 

On Saturday, October 5th, in partnership with Community Miracles in Action (CMA), Ambassador Music Group hosted the second annual Rocktoberfest music festival as a benefit for Cohoes-based nonprofit and Siena College ACE partner, CMA and their program Louder Dreams. Along with local bands and artists, the highlighted performers of the day were the teens of CMA. After rehearsing for several months in preparation for the big day, the teens rocked the house and showed the Albany Warehouse District where the next generation of talent is coming from. These exciting performances would not have been possible without the vendors, donors, and volunteers from CMA and Siena College’s Bonner program.

Maura Lynch ’23
Bonner Service Leader, CMA

   

For our second service day, some of the Bonners served at Girls on the Run. We helped the organization prepare for their upcoming 5K by packing their 5K bags that needed to be delivered to all of the schools that host Girls on the Run in the Capital Region. In addition to packing the bags for the community runners and running buddies, the Bonners helped organize the office, to help the small team of three to be able to function more effectively. The Girls on the Run staff were very grateful for everything the Bonners did, including Bonners that volunteered to go above and beyond, arriving at 6am the day of the event to help with setup and event coordination.

Tori Mangelli ’23 
Bonner Service Leader, Girls on the Run

On Saturday, November 16th Bonner had their 2nd service day of the semester at RISSE, Refugee and Immigrant Support Services of Emmaus, a family-based center that helps people to be able to build sustainable lives in the United States. For our service day at RISSE, we were able to help organize and clean around the organization’s two buildings. In the operations and adult learning center, Bonners painted organized rooms, and cleaned to create a welcoming environment for visitors. In the church, where the afterschool program for the children is housed, students cleaned all of the rooms, organized closets and shelves full of games and books. It was a fun day to be able to serve together and share my site with my peers.

Samantha Lunt ’23
Bonner Service Leader, RISSE