RIT Cares promotes day of community service

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Rochester Institute of Technology alumni volunteers will embrace their Tiger pride and team up for an international day of community service on Sept 12.

RIT Cares is a joint effort between the Alumni Association and alumni chapters to reconnect with alumni through a variety of community service projects. From helping out food banks to picking up trash the projects allow alumni to make a difference right in their own backyards.

Community service projects will take place in Rochester, Dallas, the San Francisco Bay Area, Colorado, South Florida, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Charlotte, N.C. In addition to the national projects, there are international projects in Croatia, Peru and Dubai.

Kelly Redder, assistant vice president of RIT for Life and director of RIT Alumni House, helped organize the event to encourage alumni to think globally and act locally.

“The concept is to create a global day of service annually,” said Redder. “The one day of the year where everybody wears their RIT thinking and working cap and makes an impact wherever they are.”

The Alumni Association anticipated just a few chapters to participate in its first year, but ended up with eight regional chapters and three international sites, with more than 100 alumni, parents, students, and friends of RIT joining in the initiative.

“Alumni are so proud of the RIT degree,” said Redder. “Anything that can tie them back to the Henrietta campus even if it’s community service in their own backyard means so much to them.”

Alumni volunteers are responsible for hosting and organizing the projects within their communities. To recognize the RIT family members for their hard work, everyone will receive an RIT tiger pride T-shirt to wear during the event.

Projects in the Rochester area include sorting food items at Foodlink, working on grounds maintenance at Mount Hope Cemetery, picking up trash on the RIT campus, working on general repairs at the Ronald McDonald House and cleaning up debris at Washington Grove.

Jon Rodibaugh, executive director of Alumni Relations, believes the event will be a meaningful experience for alumni.

“I hope volunteering helps them to not only connect with their community but to reconnect with RIT,” said Rodibaugh. “I know they have made some great memories as RIT students and I want them to continue building memories as alumni. RIT Cares is one of these opportunities.”

Next year, the Alumni Association wants to expand on the number of community service projects and engage more alumni chapters. The ultimate goal is to have alumni from all of the 35 domestic chapters and the eight international chapters volunteering on one day every year.

For more information or to register for the event, go to the RIT Cares website.