Alumni and Cornell students came together in 17 U.S. cities and in Shanghai, China, Jan. 5-6, for Cornell Cares Day events, tackling community service projects and connecting with other Cornellians.

Cornell Cares Day is a student-alumni event that connects current students and alumni, often along with spouses and children, to serve their local communities through direct, hands-on service, such as stocking food banks, working at Habitat for Humanity sites, cleaning up zoos and working with retirement communities.

Credit: Provided

Credit: Provided

The Cornell Public Service Center (PSC) piloted the event in 2001 in New York City and Boston. The PSC works with regional Cornell alumni clubs to implement the program, often finding agencies at which participants can volunteer and alerting student volunteers who will be in their hometowns during winter break.

Most Cornell Cares Day events take place during the first weekend in January, but events also are happening this weekend (Jan. 12-13) in Brazil and the following weekend in Los Angeles. Still other Cornell Cares Days will be held in Florida and Arizona, as well as in Italy and Australia, later in the year.

The Cornell Club of Long Island held its event at Island Harvest in Mineola – an organization that bridges those who have surplus food and those who need it, picking up and delivering donated food to nonprofit agencies in the area at no charge.

The event supported Island Harvest's upcoming "Coin Harvest" campaign by cleaning and labeling hundreds of coin-collection buckets. About 20 alumni, spouses and children attended the event, said Heather Abbott '98, MBA '03, young alumni co-chair for the CALS Alumni Association of Long Island. "We've been doing it for three years," Abbott said of her club's work for Island Harvest through Cornell Cares Day. "People really seem to like it – we get a lot of repeat comers."

The Cornell Club of Northern New Jersey ran its Cornell Cares Day in conjunction with Project Sunshine, a nonprofit that provides social, educational and recreational programs to families facing medical challenges. Volunteers engage children in arts and crafts activities, tutoring, entertainment and special parties.

More than 60 alumni, spouses, children and Cornell students attended the event in Millburn, N.J., creating get-well cards, "surgi-dolls" and craft kits for children in area hospitals, said Doug Goldstein '95, vice president of programming for the club. One of the club's goals for its Cornell Cares Day event is to involve current Cornell students who are home for winter break. "It's fair to say that everyone had a good and meaningful time," he said.