THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2005
2005
HOMECOMING
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 3A
er, does ion pro
once how looking to be a good d.
thints had
ch they
m as an
is then
n front
board
where
selves. Alves.
a taken to
ed, the vn and d seep areies are as they in the
home-
important $ \mathcal{C} $ of the university use elect- ing and
present-
iversity
ally be-ott said.
reading much as it.
Date McCharissa
ugh the
Students give back for Day of Caring
ERN CASTANEDA
editor@kansan.com
KANSAN CORRESPONDENT
Meg Stockton, Wichita sophomore and Leslie Northrop, Los Altos, Calif., sophomore, assemble postcard packages Sunday at Van Go for the Day of Caring. Day of Caring is one of the annual Homecoming events sponsored by the Homecoming Steering Committee.
In conjunction with Homecoming and the national Make a Difference Day, Oct. 22, students participated in community service projects on Sunday. The Homecoming Steering Committee and the Center for Community Outreach collaborated to make the event happen.
Frin Castaneda/KANSAN
Kathryn Istas, Omaha, Neb. sophomore, and Financial Director for the Center for Community Outreach said she jumped on the opportunity to help with the Homecoming events this year.
She said she never got to do things like that because she was usually allocating budgets and working with government documents.
Istas called 26 community service organizations in Lawrence and tried to find those that could handle large groups. The sites chosen were Campus Community Garden, Community Living Opportunity and Van Go Mobile Arts.
As the number of partici[pantsgrew, Istas had to find another organization to accommodate even larger numbers.
"We grabbed Lawrence Parks and Recreation because they would allow a group of 80 to clean up two parks in the city," she said.
CCO not only faced the challenge of finding organizations that would accommodate large numbers, but also those that could supervise or work on Sundays.
"Sunday is our only day with time to do a community service project. It is a challenge on weekends though, because there are so many people from the university and the community volunteering at
community service organizations already," said Sarah Lathrop, Phoenix, Ariz., senior and Homecoming steering committee coordinator
About 200 students volunteered this year.
"Mostly Greek organizations signed up, the only non-Greek is BSU," said Lathrop.
She and four other committee members assigned about 20-25 students per site and supervised at each.
KU adviser, Jennifer Alderdice was helping at Van Go Mobile Arts. She has been involved with homecoming activities for eight years. This was the first year KU has worked with Van Go, 715 New Jersey St.
Van Go started in 1996 with one project; it has evolved into several projects. However, the main concept, therapeutic art, has remained the same. Van Go office coordinator Mary Lamb said creating art was not its main goal. The art is used as a tool to teach disadvantaged youth life skills necessary to succeed in their community.
"Art is one of the best ways to reach out to kids, they can make something from nothing," she said. "It is about esteem building for kids. We serve the unemployable population and provide skills for them to be successful."
Each child who participates in the after-school job training program is paid. The children are paid to produce artwork that is sold in the Van Go gallery to fund the program.
"There is no other organization in Lawrence that does this type of work, so I think it is great. It's also good for the current students to learn about it." Alderdice said.
To introduce the students to Van Go, Lamb showed a short film. Afterward, she gave them directions to complete specific projects.
Normally Van Go has four to five volunteer mentors and a couple of office volunteers, so when Lamb heard she had about 15 coming her way she was excited.
Van Go recently won a national award and is preparing for its annual Dormant Sale on Nov. 26. The student volunteers assembled postcard packages and cards to sell
at the event.
Katherin Noyce, Leawood junior and Homecoming chair for Pi Beta Phi said this was the first time she had heard of it and hadn't even known where it was.
Reid Crowe, Lawrence sophomore said it was good to see programs like Van Go in Lawrence, but he said he wanted
more after-school programs for children who were not art-clinel, such as a car workshop.
Reed Schmidt, Blue Springs, Mo. senior has participated in homecoming events before, but never the community service project.
He said he decided to do it this year because he was an art major and this particular service project
appealed to him. He said when he was in high school he was involved in the Creative Arts Academy; an after school program that show-cased student's art.
"We like to do community service because we do a lot for the students," Lathrop said. "But this is a way to give back to the community."
Glasses don't have to make you look nerdy
We have exclusive lines of hip frames
Calin Klar, Oakley, Ralph Lester and Olive People
Dr. Kevin Lenahan
Optometrist & Associates
Hillcrest 935 Business
Park, 935 Iowa
(785) 838-3200
www.lehanayedoc.com
A touch of Irish in downtown Lawrence
944 Mass. 832-8228
936 1/2 Mass. (upstairs)
(785) 843-1551
8
12. F