MCC Students, Faculty and Staff Work to Support “Connecticut Make a Difference Week”

Dozens of volunteers from MCC will be engaged in their community to help “make a difference” throughout the week of October 19 as the college and the state participate in Connecticut Make a Difference Week. MCC activities kick off with a voter registration drive sponsored by the MCC Paralegal Association, Monday Oct. 20 and Tuesday, October 21 from 12:30 to 1:30 and 5 to 7 p.m., in the college’s LRC building, room A142, where volunteers will help new voters navigate the paperwork to be eligible to vote in the upcoming election. In addition, MCC volunteers will participate in a Habitat for Humanity project at 500 Cottage Grove Road, Bloomfield, Conn., where volunteers will work from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 21 and Thursday, Oct. 23. The Empty Bowls Project, Foodshare of Greater Hartford’s annual event to help feed the hungry, will take place on the MCC campus in the Culinary Arts Center from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, October 25. MCC culinary students will help with service for the meal and the college’s pottery students are providing handmade bowls for the event. Other MCC volunteers will also participate. For more information about any of these opportunities, contact T.J. Barber, MCC director of student activities, at 860-512-3282 or email tbarber@manchestercc.edu. About Connecticut Make a Difference Week Across Connecticut this fall, during the third week of October, students, faculty and staff at 17 of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system colleges will be engaging in good works. The week-long series of public service activities initiated by the public colleges and universities around the state (culminating in “National Make a Difference Day” on October 25), will highlight the diverse number of community involvement efforts ongoing throughout the year. Activities promote civic engagement, develop students’ citizenship skills, forge community partnerships and integrate service learning and volunteering at these education institutions. This specific week in October coincides with “National Make a Difference Day” to celebrate and promote interest in volunteering and public service on campuses nationwide. Connecticut’s public service week – designated as CT Public Higher Education Make a Difference Week – aims to showcase the commitment of the state’s public higher education institutions to a wide range of service activities. The volunteers involved go well beyond their institutions and classrooms in order to give back to their communities and the people they serve. The events at the various campuses, will also underscore the importance of engagement and volunteer service for the participants in work and life, now as students, and in the future for their careers, whether in the private or public sector. Find out more at http://ctpublicsmakeadiff.org/student-volunteer-opportunities/.