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Giving wows outreach center College students are often pictured as fairly poor, but that didn't stop students at Siena College in Loudonville from raising $12,000 to help St. John/St. Ann's Outreach Center in Albany. The students dug deep into their wallets during Charity Week, an annual tradition sponsored by the Student Events Board to benefit a single charity. St. John/St. Ann's Center, located in the parish of the same name in the South End of Albany, serves hot lunches to hundreds of people, operates a food pantry, runs a clothes closet and helps the needy in many other ways. Making a choice Kyle McElhoney, a junior, and Heather Flood, a sophomore, coordinated Charity Week. They wanted to support a local charity, instead of a national one, as previous Charity Weeks have done. Remembering a positive experience she had volunteering at St. John/St. Ann's, Ms. Flood joined Mr. McElhoney in a visit to the outreach center. Sister Barbara Quinn, director of the Center, took the students on a tour of the facilities. They knew they wanted to work with the Center "right away," Ms. Flood said. "We both had the same feeling. We knew we wanted to help them as much as we could." Raising money The centerpiece of Charity Week is an auction, which includes items donated by local stores and companies as well as creative gifts given by on-campus donors. Among the gifts were the top registration spot for classes from the Registrar's Office, one hour of dorm-room cleaning a week from Facilities Management, and the first number in the housing lottery from the residence life office. That sold to a group of eight students for more than a $1,000. Sister Barbara attended the auction, and was amazed to watch the students raising their hands to bid on items. "I'm really proud of the whole community," she said. 'Good feeling' Other fundraising events included a bread-and-soup dinner, a team trivia night, a penny drive, Bingo and the "donate-a-meal program," in which 794 students signed up to forego one of their dining-hall meals. Campus Dining Services donated the equivalent amount of money to Charity Week. The students also sponsored trips to New York City for charity and went door-to-door in the dorms to solicit donations. "It was such a good feeling, to see so many people helping," said Ms. Flood, a Catholic from Orange County. In December, the two students presented the money to St. John/St. Ann's Center. "I was ecstatic. I could not believe it," Sister Barbara said of the students' gift. "It was great, and we needed the money, and God is good. These kids are just great." (1/25/07) |