The William Street Community is Making a Difference

In the heart of the financial district, a New School community is reaching out to those in need. The residents of the William Street residence hall have set a goal to raise one dollar, one can of food and one volunteer hour per student resident in aid of the homeless. As part of this initiative, Residential Advisors Iskander Ahmed and Charlie Leibel held a black tie auction on November 21, 2010, to provide residents with the opportunity to volunteer at organizations that provide help to the homeless. A festive atmosphere and fun prizes - often with a practical component, such as lessons in photoshop use - encouraged students to commit to volunteering their time. The event raised $122 in cash contributions and a further 24 volunteer hours. This brought the community very close to its monetary target of raising $400, and as the program continues, the possibility that the community might even exceed its target has been raised.

In addition to rallying material aid, the ‘Help for the Homeless’ program has had the intangible, but perhaps even more enduring effect of increasing awareness amongst the William St community about the situation of some of New York’s most vulnerable residents. The New School is an institution which takes pride in its long tradition of thinking about and promoting social justice, and at William St, students have shown themselves to be worthy inheritors of that social justice tradition.

Submitted by Simone Gubler- Major in Philosophy at The New School for Social Research

Help for Haiti is just beginning at William Street

The tragedy in Haiti is receiving less media coverage than it did a month ago, the devastation is far from being settled. The William Street residents and staff know that and have set three major goals for the semester to help raise funds for relief.

In January, William Street students and staff met to discuss how they could make a difference and help the people of Haiti. The discussion turned into a series of fundraising events that will take place throughout the semester with all proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders.

The first event is the Valentine's Day candygrams that will be sold and distributed for Valentine's Day (and the totals are in and they've raised over $200!), the second will be a silent auction of donated student work and the third is a proposed 5K fun run/walk in collaboration with the Office of Recreation and Intramural sports (more info to come).

A huge thanks goes out the RAs responsible for making this Program of the Month Happen! Emily Markley, Iskander Ahmed and Jackie Delsandro all lead the way with a great amount of help from the residents of William Street. Keep an eye in William Street and your hall for more events to support this great cause.

Want to know how you can get involved in planing a fundraising event in your hall? Talk to any Res. Life staff member in your hall or look for the green logo (above) on flyers around the building. This indicates that proceeds from that event will go to benefit Haiti relief efforts.

Thanks William Street residents and staff and congratulations on receiving Program of The Month!