Student Announce January 13, 2026

Happy New Year from the Center for Civic Leadership! 

Our Community Needs Hub, which houses our campus food pantry and thrift store, continued to offer limited weekly hours over the winter break and will be staffed 7 days a week starting Monday January 12th to help our students as they transition back to campus. Our Spring semester hours will be posted on digital signage and are updated on our Civic Engagement Pioneer link page.

• As a reminder food pantry request can be submitted in person during open hours or remotely through our Food Pantry Request Form.  Students submitting a request in person will be able to receive goods at the time of the request while those submitting remotely will be notified by staff via email once the bag is available for pick-up. 

Looking forward to rolling up our sleeves to serve our incredible community once again this semester!

Celebrate service and MLK Day with us!! 

On January 19th we will celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dynamic life and unwavering commitment to nurturing and serving community in pursuit of equality and justice. This year will mark the 40th anniversary of the holiday's official observance in 1986. It later became the only federal holiday designated by Congress as a National Day of Service in 1994 when Unites States Congress passed the King Holiday and Service Act. 

The Center for Civic Leadership invites our campus community to drop by the Student Leadership Center parkspace from 10-2 on Monday, January 19th to help us celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by helping us create care kits for community members in need.  We will have supplies to assemble two types of kits:

• Book-Blanket-Buddy kits for children who are either entering the foster care system or find themselves navigating displacement alongside their families for various reasons.
• Personal Hygiene kits for adults and children experiencing hardship, displacement, or homelessness. 

All of the Care Kits created will be shared with our partners at ACCORD to help disseminate to wider community responders to ensure timely delivery to people in need. The Center for Civic Leadership has acquired items for the kits (special thanks to student engagement for donating all the stuffed animals needed for our Book-Blanket-Buddy kits!) and will have support staff from the Center for Civic Leadership and the Cultural Life Center ready to welcome any helping hands that want to assemble a few kits for these causes.

Regardless of your ability to lend a hand to this initiative, we encourage everyone to find meaningful ways to give back and strengthen community (special thanks and shout out to our Women's Lacross coach and team for answering another community call and volunteering with the Community Action Angels on the day!) 

As we reflect on Dr. King's legacy and the many challenges facing our communities, we look forward to joining the unified service efforts across our nation this MLK Day, renewing our commitment to fostering caring communities through this symbolic launch into another semester filled with service. 

College Council’s Leadership Through Civic Engagement Award 

Do you know a member of our campus community (faculty, staff, or student) that is having a big impact on our culture of care and championing community service? If so, please nominate them for the College Council's Leadership Through Civic Engagement Award! 

• Who: Anyone may nominate a student or faculty/staff member. Nominations for faculty/staff should be for civic engagement service within the past two years and no self-nominations are permitted.
• Description: College Council recognizes members of the Alfred State community annually for leadership in civic engagement.  Reviewers assess nominations based on 5 primary categories (leadership, teamwork, partnership, impact, and innovation).
• How to Nominate: Use the online application (link here) to find further instructions and to upload and submit your nomination letter(s).
• Recognition: College Council selects up to 2 faculty/staff and unlimited # of deserving student awardees. Student awardees are recognized at Honors Convocation while faculty/staff awardees are recognized at the Reward & Recognition Luncheon.
• Due Date: January 16th for nominations

This is a great way to recognize members of our campus that are hard at work fostering a caring community! Whether it is a student who is always taking initiative and enhancing team dynamics or a faculty or staff member who is leading the way with partnerships and innovation that enhance our civic impact, help us recognize and celebrate all the ways our community members are showing up and making a difference by nominating folks you feel exemplify the spirit of this award.