By Ashlee Gray, Contributing Writer
The university’s inagural Day of Action will take place on Nov. 2.
The Day of Action was commissioned by Dr. Dennis R. DePerro, the 21st President of St. Bonaventure University, to commemorate his inauguration, which will take place the next day, Nov. 3. DePerro asked the faculty and students of the university to create a day of service that will continue to take place every year during Francis Week.
Nichole Gonzalez, interim vice president for student affairs, and Jeff Sved, director of the Franciscan Center for Social Concern, have overseen the work of the students who have been organizing a majority of the event.
“It’s a college campus. We aren’t doing anything unless students are involved, and it’s even better when there is student ownership,” said Sved. “We invited students into the planning and let them run with it”.
There are 12 senior students coordinating the day, including journalism majors Mary K. Killen and Taylor Walker, strategic communications and digital media major Christina Spezio, and journalism and strategic communications and digital media double major Mackenzie Watson.
The day aims to generate awareness of rural poverty and the local housing crisis in Cattaraugus County. Gonzalez said the students chose an issue that affects the local community so Bonaventure can get out locally and bring some of those issues to campus. Nearly twenty percent of people in Cattaraugus county live at or below the poverty level.
“There are four different groups: education, advocacy, direct service and fundraising. We all are doing something in relation to the housing issues in Olean and Cattaraugus county,” said Spezio.
She explained that each group planned an event that will generate student involvement.
The advocacy group is hosting a panel that will have members of the community, experts like Shannon Higbee, housing director of Housing Made Easy, among others. The speakers will talk to students and the community about the housing crisis in Cattaraugus County at noon in the McGinley-Carney Center for Franciscan Ministries building.
The education group will be spray painting facts onto boxes and creating a video to raise awareness. Students in the education branch hope, by educating students on the issue, they will generate greater awareness and encourage advocacy.
Direct action plans on going to The Warming House and making blankets during the free period with Bona Responds. Bona Responds will also have two off-campus building opportunities.
“The fundraising branch has a goal of $1,103.17. They wanted to match the date of Dr. DePerro’s inauguration date,” said Spezio.
The students not only organized the events on campus, they also were in charge of reaching out to the community and gathering information on the poverty and housing crisis.
“The biggest challenge was really understanding what was going on in the community,” said Spezio. “You don’t really hear what’s going on in the Bona Bubble, and the community seems to push it under the rug.”
The students hope that by bringing this information to the campus community, students will understand that they can get involved in the local community and help out.
The events will be held throughout the day on Nov. 2.
