The CoSIDA Goodwill Committee is excited to announce details for this year’s service project at the annual CoSIDA San Francisco Convention from July 4-7. This year the Goodwill Committee will hold a four-hour service project on Wednesday, July 7 at the St. Anthony Foundation.
In addition, the committee will also hold a clothing/toiletry donation drive during registration at the convention. See also various items the Goodwill Committee has been working on for the convention and a new addition to the CoSIDA website.
The Goodwill Committe is chaired by Sam Atkinson, Gallaudet Sports Information Director. For questions and more information, contact Sam at at 202.448.7081 or at
sam.atkinson@gallaudet.edu .
Service Project
The CoSIDA Goodwill Committee service project returns for a second year after a great debut in San Antonio working with the local food bank. In San Francisco, CoSIDA members will volunteer at the St. Anthony Foundation, an organization which serves the homeless and needy and assists homeless men - particularly veterans - with drug and alcohol addictions.
The committee hopes to increase it’s volunteer numbers in 2010 after 15 people helped last year in a good start for what hopes to become a staple in future CoSIDA Conventions.
The
St. Anthony Foundation provides free services to the poor and homeless in San Francisco. CoSIDA Convention attendees or spouses are encouraged to attend the service project at the St. Anthony Foundation where they will volunteer time in the dining room plus have a chance to interact with the Father Alfred Center, which helps homeless men with addiction from drugs and alcohol. This moving experience will hopefully leave an impact on you and help CoSIDA reach out to the San Francisco community.
“We have worked hard to coordinate this project with the St. Anthony Foundation and hope that CoSIDA members take a hour or two out of their convention schedule to volunteer their time towards a worthy cause,” said
CoSIDA Goodwill Committee Chair Sam Atkinson, Gallaudet University sports information director. “We had a good start last year with our first-ever service project in San Antonio and we hope to have more people come out and help this year and show why ‘CoSIDA Cares’ about giving back to our host city.”
The committee understands everybody has a busy schedule on July 7 during the ‘Digital Summit Day’ so they have created two different blocks of time for people to volunteer. The first shift will go from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. and a second shift from 1:30 p.m. until 3:30 p.m. The St. Anthony Foundation is a 5-10 minute walk (several blocks) from the Marriott Marquis.
Any registered member of the CoSIDA Convention that is interested in volunteering in this service project at the St. Anthony Foundation should contact Sam Atkinson at
sam.atkinson@gallaudet.edu or call 202.448.7081 for more details. Please specify which volunteer shift you would like to participate in or if you would like to volunteer for all four hours. A more detailed e-mail will go out to those volunteers prior to the convention with last minute details.
Donation Drive
A new initiative the CoSIDA Goodwill Committee is excited to announce for this year’s convention is a clothing/toiletry donation drive to coincide with the service project with the St. Anthony Foundation. The committee has discussed in the past about how they could help orchestrate a donation drive during the convention to help the local charity.
This year during registration attendees will have the opportunity to drop off their donations of clothing/toiletries that will be presented on July 7 during the service project.
After speaking with representatives at the St. Anthony Foundation here is what they are in the most need of: clothing, socks, flash drives, and travel size shampoo, lotions, soap, deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrushes, disposable razors and shaving cream.
“We are fortunate to work in a profession where we obtain many shirts and polos which over time serve their purpose and then get stashed away. We are encouraging all CoSIDA convention attendees to ‘Pack and Extra Shirt’ this year and donate it during registration. If we all donated a shirt, or a old flash drive or pack some extra toiletry items it would make a great impact,” said
CoSIDA Goodwill Committee Vice-Chair Ryan Klinkner, St. John's (Minn.) athletic media relations director.
For 60 years St. Anthony Foundation has provided free, life-sustaining support for the poor and homeless. St. Anthony Foundation’s programs help heal individuals and families by providing a gateway to solutions to poverty, including a Dining Room which serves 2,600 meals every day, an Employment Program/ Technology Lab, Drug and Alcohol Recovery Program, and a Free Medical Clinic. St. Anthony Foundation does not accept any federal, state, or local government money, and is entirely funded by private donations. For more information about the St. Anthony Foundation please visit
www.stanthonysf.org or call 1.415.241.2600.
Goodwill Committee Meeting
The CoSIDA Goodwill Committee will also meet as a committee in San Francisco on Sunday, July 4, at 2:00 p.m. in the Pacific H meeting room on the fourth floor for those interested in attending. For more information about the CoSIDA Goodwill Committee or if you are interested in joining please contact Sam Atkinson (
sam.atkinson@gallaudet.edu) or Ryan Klinkner (
rklinkner@csbsju.edu).
NEW: CoSIDA Cares Web page
Last year the CoSIDA Goodwill Committee created a new slogan of “CoSIDA Cares” to complement the committee’s new mission statement of; The College Sports Information Directors of America Goodwill Committee strives to leave a positive mark on the communities we visit during our annual convention. Our focus is to involve our colleagues in the importance of giving back and how they can help their own communities year round.
To help promote the CoSIDA Goodwill Committee and the fantastic service projects that take place locally and nationally on college campuses across the country, this web page will help to bring notice to these initiatives and to make sure CoSIDA members are aware of upcoming service and/or fundraising events that they may want to promote or participate in on their respective campuses.
“We view this as a great resource for all CoSIDA members to use in the future. We will work with CoSIDA Director of External Affairs Barb Kowal to keep the site up-to-date with information and contact numbers and addresses for various goodwill initiatives that a lot of college campuses partake in each and every year,” said Atkinson. “This page will also showcase the progress the Goodwill Committee is making to demonstrate ‘CoSIDA Cares’ about the convention host city each and every year and to show the importance we all have in giving back to our local communities.”