Make a Difference Week kicks off at Iona

The Best Buddies and Asset Center Kickball Game is one of many events during Iona’s annual Make a Difference Week.

Dana Ruby and Alison Robles Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor

Iona’s annual Make a Difference Week, sponsored by the Office of Mission and Ministry, started on Sept. 28.

Make a Difference Week, which originated at Iona around 2000, consists of a variety of service projects and events that help out the community surrounding the college. This annual week of service is inspired by the national Make a Difference Week, which promotes volunteering, according to the Iona website.

Make a Difference Week takes place every fall semester. Dr. Carl Procario-Foley, the director of Mission and Ministry, said that scheduling MADW during the fall is intentional.

“The timing corresponds to the college’s efforts to engage students, especially first year students, in the greater community,” Procario-Foley said.

Procario-Foley believes that MADW matches up with Iona’s mission, specifically through its focus on work within the local community.

“MADW is grounded in the college’s commitment to community engagement,” Procario-Foley said. “Projects such as the community clean-up, the collections for the homeless, [and] the Midnight Run are centered primarily in direct service, [while] Box City, the homelessness awareness night, and the Clothesline Project on Sexual Assault [all] focus on advocacy for justice.”

This year’s Make a Difference Week began with a service project through the Fuller Center for Housing, an organization that helps build and repair housing for lower-income families and individuals, according to the organization’s website. Through this service project, students helped paint the interior of a local shelter.

The first weekend of MADW featured the annual Best Buddies and Asset Center Kickball Game, a community clean up organized by the Council of Greek Governance and a special Make a Difference Week mass at Holy Family Church.

The Best Buddies and Asset Center Kickball Game is an event that includes both the children from the Asset Center and the participants in the Best Buddies program, according to senior Maria Halton, the president of Best Buddies. Halton has been attending the kickball game and other Make a Difference Week events since her freshmen year.

“It’s bittersweet being able to coordinate one of these events, knowing that this will be my last year attending the kickball game, as a senior,” Halton said. “However, I am so happy to see that everyone had an amazing time and can’t wait to see this tradition continue.”

On Oct. 1, members of the Iona community could participate in MADW by registering to vote, decorating t-shirts for the Clothesline Project—an organization that raises awareness of domestic violence—and participating in an elderly outreach program at the Wartburg Nursing Home. The next day, students, faculty and staff could help out at Project Family Soup Kitchen or make cards to thank people in the Iona community through the event Cards of Hope. Cards of Hope, organized by the Commuter Student Association, takes place to honor former student Justin Samela Miceli who passed away in 2007.

“It’s really important to thank people not only in the Iona community, but also the community of New Rochelle for all they do for us,” junior Kathleen Kramer, vice president of CSA and commuter assistant, said. “Getting a thank you card and feeling appreciated can really make a difference in someone’s day.”

The Red Cross Blood Drive, organized by sorority Delta Theta Beta, also took place on Oct. 2. Assistant Director of Graduate Admissions Christopher Kash donated blood during the Make a Difference Week event. Kash, who has donated blood three times before, thinks that everyone in the Iona community should participate in the week of service.

“I think it’s important to participate as a staff member because everyone has the ability to make a difference in our world, and it’s not just meant for one group of people to try,” Kash said. “We’re all connected to one another and no matter where we are in our lives, whether it’s being a student or staff member, we each should do our best to do what we can to help positively impact others.”

Events for this year’s Make a Difference Week will continue until Oct. 10. If you are interested in participating in Make a Difference Week, you can sign up online at www.iona.edu/MADWsignup.