Colleges Serve Communities in Allegany County and Beyond

Reprinted with permission from Corey Fecteau at Alfred University

Celebrate Service, Celebrate Allegany is Allegany County’s fall day of service tradition, and since 2012 has been observed by Alfred State College, Alfred University, and Houghton College. 

This fall service event is supported by all three Allegany County institutions of higher education, as well as the Greater Allegany Chamber of Commerce, Inc.; the Allegany County Area Foundation; Otis Eastern Service, LLC of Wellsville; Leadership Allegany; Auxiliary Campus Enterprises and Services (ACES); and Hot Silk Screen Printing of Alfred. More than 2700 students from all three institutions of higher education have contributed over 12,200 hours of service to county organizations and community projects within Allegany County over the past eight years. 

In the past, Celebrate Service, Celebrate Allegany was observed as a single day of service on national Make a Difference Day, the fourth Saturday in October. This year, administrators from all three campuses decided to extend the celebration over four weeks to allow for more service opportunities for students and greater flexibility for community partners.

Alfred University kicked off Celebrate Service, Celebrate Allegany 2019 with a day of service on Saturday, Sept. 28, National Good Neighbor Day. Altogether, 55 Alfred University students, including members of the Cheer Team and the Caribbean Student Association, worked with community members on five service projects in three communities. 

Good Neighbor Day projects included resealing the Mike Kenyon Children’s Park, painting the A.E. Crandall Hook & Ladder Company station, scraping and repainting the ramp and deck of the Baker’s Bridge Historical Association, doing yard work for the Almond Rural Cemetery Association, as well as landscaping and installing storm windows for the Alfred Box of Books Library. 

Houghton College followed with its celebration on Oct. 21 with a week of service and community-building projects, focused in the northern and western communities of Allegany County. A total of 125 Houghton College students completed 375 hours of community service projects, including making sandwiches for a food kitchen, working at Wellspring Ministries in Belfast, and serving at a community outreach harvest festival. 

Finally, 190 Alfred State College students concluded the month-long service celebration on Saturday, Oct. 26 in southern Allegany County and Hornell. Student organizations, including athletics and Greek houses, spent 655 hours serving the Alfred Community Garden, Wellsville Community Kitchen, Wellsville YMCA, Foster Lake, and the Mike Kenyon Children’s Park. 

Photos of students from all three institutions working together with community partners to benefit Allegany County are posted on the Celebrate Service, Celebrate Allegany Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CelebrateService/.