What Started as an Idea, Finished as a Community Movement!
At 7pm Saturday evening, April 20th, the first annual Working for Worcester project day finished up. For 10 hours over the course of the day, volunteers from every corner of our city came together to sweat, laugh, and work as an army of citizens. All in all close to 540 volunteers, representing 7 different Worcester colleges and universities (Holy Cross, Clark, WPI, Assumption, Mass College of Pharmacy, UMass Med, and Worcester State), picked up everything from power drills to spring rakes and renovated 12 community recreation sites. Students and residents high-fived all over the city, as $60,000 worth of infrastructural improvements unfolded. Community pride and ownership was contagious as Working for Worcester marked the construction of 2 new playgrounds, 4 new basketball courts, a new sandbox, a dance studio, a baseball field, a teen recreation room, a food pantry, a school cafeteria, 3 community gardens, new walking trails, and everything in between!
To view before & after photos or our site, click here.
To view before & after photos or our site, click here.
Working for Worcester Kicks-Off With A Bang!
Saturday morning, April 20th, close to 750 people filed into the Hart Center at Holy Cross to get organized and pumped up for a day of infrastructural transformation across the city of Worcester. After an hour of registration, enjoying breakfast and coffee from Panera Bread, and getting fitted into the official WforW project t-shirt, our eager volunteers filled in the bleachers for WforW’s first ever community rally! After the WforW team addressed the giant crowd about the MONSTER day ahead and celebrated the incredible sponsors and community partners that made this project possible… President of Holy Cross, Philip Boroughs, S.J., opened the rally program with some remarks about this community movement and then led the crowd in a prayer for the victims of the Marathon Bombing. Worcester mayor Joe Petty and city councilor Sarai Rivera took the podium to tell the crowd about how this student-inspired movement is affecting the city at the macro level. Finally CEO of the United Way Massachusetts, Tim Garvin, took the stage to preach the real meaning of community commitment, “Service is not a one-day consideration. It is a lifelong attitude and course of action.” The crowd got fired-up when the WforW leadership team took the stage to announce the official kick-off of this loud, proud, and transformative day of service across the city of Worcester.
To view the Kick-Off Rally photo gallery, click here.
To view the Kick-Off Rally photo gallery, click here.
Working For Worcester
Led by a group of passionate college students, Working for Worcester is a city-wide project designed to promote city pride and ownership while, at the same time, providing necessary improvements to Worcester's recreational spaces. Over the past 3 months, Working For Worcester has labored tirelessly to assemble a dedicated student managing team, a group of faculty advisors and to earn the support of city officials, school representatives and the Worcester community as a whole. Working for Worcester, an organization comprised of students throughout the Consortium, ultimately desires to demonstrate our heartfelt appreciation for the city's hospitality.
On project day, April 20, 2013, Working for Worcester hopes to mobilize a group of 1000+ students, faculty, and local volunteers and make in excess of $50,000 of improvements to the community. Several project locations including the Worcester Youth Center and Cookson Park have already been finalized. Other potential sites include: schoolyards, school libraries, gardens, etc.
Working for Worcester is centrally organized by Students Helping Children Across Borders (SHCAB) but in development and implementation, the project is a city-wide partnership of student organizations, local businesses, academic institutions, city government, and community groups. SHCAB is a registered 501c(3) non-profit organization and, as such, all donations to SHCAB are tax deductible. For more information on SHCAB, click here.
On project day, April 20, 2013, Working for Worcester hopes to mobilize a group of 1000+ students, faculty, and local volunteers and make in excess of $50,000 of improvements to the community. Several project locations including the Worcester Youth Center and Cookson Park have already been finalized. Other potential sites include: schoolyards, school libraries, gardens, etc.
Working for Worcester is centrally organized by Students Helping Children Across Borders (SHCAB) but in development and implementation, the project is a city-wide partnership of student organizations, local businesses, academic institutions, city government, and community groups. SHCAB is a registered 501c(3) non-profit organization and, as such, all donations to SHCAB are tax deductible. For more information on SHCAB, click here.
Working for Worcester proudly accepts donations through SHCAB's PayPal.
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