Syracuse, NY -- Saturday’s bright sunshine may have been beckoning them, but Phi Gamma Delta fraternity brothers from Syracuse University toiled indoors, painting the gymnasium at the Catholic Youth Organization on North Salina Street. “We really wanted to help and make sure we repay the community around us, especially on 9/11,” said fraternity president McGhee Cost, a senior from...
Syracuse, NY -- Saturday’s bright sunshine may have been beckoning them, but Phi Gamma Delta fraternity brothers from Syracuse University toiled indoors, painting the gymnasium at the Catholic Youth Organization on North Salina Street.
“We really wanted to help and make sure we repay the community around us, especially on 9/11,” said fraternity president McGhee Cost, a senior from Richmond, Va.
The CYO job was just one among many activities organized throughout the Syracuse area for Acts of Kindness Weekend, sponsored by Women Transcending Boundaries. The group was founded after the terrorist attacks nine years ago, and Saturday’s event focused on community service and the human spirit, while the nation remembered those killed in the 9/11 attacks in New York City, suburban Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pa.
Justin Tasolides, a junior member of Phi Gamma Delta from Long Island and vice president of recruitment for the Syracuse Intrafraternity Council, said he wanted to show the community what Greek life at SU is really all about. “We can help out the community a step at a time,” he said.
Inside the Assisi Center about a block from the CYO, Janet Donahue was sending volunteers out to other community service sites. They included a group planting bulbs at Freedom Park and some Le Moyne College students working at St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church.
Donahue had lots of volunteers inside, too, providing information about organ donation, HIV/AIDs testing, bone marrow donation and getting a library card. Children here also were making cards for people on the Gulf Coast and preparing donations to the Humane Society.
The same was true at the Mary Nelson Youth Center on South Salina Street. Britney Reese, 14, a Corcoran High School freshman, was busy moving clothes to a table out back. The outfits were available to anyone who needed job-hunting clothes or something more for their wardrobe.
In fact, many of the Acts of Kindness sites had clothing giveaways, including the Assisi Center and Hopps Memorial CME Church.
Gloria Heffernan, of InterFaith Works of Central New York, staffed one of the Acts of Kindness sites, where children made cards for Gulf Coast residents still recovering from Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill.
Teddy Sanders, of Clay, was cutting out construction paper figures of water, kelp and seaweed to decorate the card he was making at the Hopps Memorial Church on South State Street. He also picked up three books to take home.
Emma Owens-Richardson, who was running the Hopps church events, said clothes and housewares had been picked up all day, while other folks came through looking at the health information set up on tables.
“The people in our community are getting in the habit of health,” said Owens-Richardson, who works as a community health counselor for the Onondaga County Health Department. “But we wanted to do this to bring more to the community.”
Contact Debra J. Groom at dgroom@syracuse.com, 470-3254 or 251-5586.