Allegra Grant Named First AmeriCorps
VISTA Volunteer at Rider
Looking for ways to give back to the local community
in order to make a profound difference? At Rider University, there
are several individuals who encourage everyone to partake in various
campus-driven initiatives. Allegra Grant is a new staff member
at Rider who is committed full-time to building on that foundation
and, in turn, analyzing its overall impact.
Grant joined Rider this past January
as Rider’s first AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer. Her position, funded
by the Corella and Betram F. Bonner Foundation and AmeriCorps, the
national volunteer service program, enables her to live on campus,
putting her in close touch with the heart and soul of the campus and
local community. She is already “quite inspired by” such
successful University initiatives as the MidNight Run, a homeless
outreach effort; the Feed the Hungry Program, the Giving Trees project,
the Rider Community Scholar’s and the work of Rider faculty
with the Trenton Center for Campus-Community Partnerships.
One of her top priorities is to
strengthen the University’s ties to Homefront, a non-profit
organization committed to providing shelter and services to homeless
families throughout Mercer County. In addition to United Way, Rider
has adopted HomeFront as the University’s official community
partner to support. Throughout the year, Grant will work closely with
HomeFront Executive Director Connie Mercer to organize two major fundraisers
to support the organization’s mission.
“I feel that everyone has something
to share or give to those who are less fortunate,” said Grant,
a native of Long Island, who grew up in a family committed to community
service. Several times a year, she, her parents and brother delivered
food and clothing to New York City’s homeless. “Everyone
has so much on their plate, but if everyone could give just a little
of their time and talent, we could create a movement of change. This
movement is needed, especially during this time of great uncertainty,”
she said.
Reporting to Erin McGrath, service
learning coordinator for Rider’s Center for Multicultural Affairs
and Service Learning, Grant is also charged with coordinating Rider’s
participation in Martin Luther King Day: A Day On, Not A Day Off.
Coordinated through the Multicultural Center, the day of community
service programming is held every January on King’s birthday.
This year, Grant arranged for Rider students to render their services
at the Imani Community Church, the Lawrence Township Neighborhood
Service Center, Cadwalader Asbury United Methodist Church, Doorway
of Hope and Rider’s Gill Chapel. Their tasks included painting
classrooms, building shelves to store donated clothing, cleaning basements
and helping to restore a home which will be given to a homeless family.
“Not only is it important
to give back to the community, it’s also important to build
upon the connection between those giving and those who are receiving,”
said Grant, a former case manager for group homes and hospitals in
New York and Pennsylvania. “We all can do something to change
the community. All I ask is that we all do what we can. The emphasis
is on sustainability, not quick fixes, or band-aid approaches. It’s
all about creating and sustaining a culture of service.”
Grant can be reached at the Multicultural
Center at ext. 7474 or via granta@rider.edu.
