Andy Ross Photos
Students in the parking lot of the Episcopal Church of St. Paul & St. James.
More than 350 students at Southern Connecticut State University joined in “The Big Event” earlier this month, cleaning property, sidewalks, parks and streets all around the city.
Lending a helping hand has become an annual event for SCSU students, who are following in the footsteps of a quarter-century of service by their counterparts at Texas A&M University. What began there as a community clean-up has spread to more than 60 campuses around the nation.
Armed with an assortment of garden tools and dozens of sturdy trash bags, and fueled by a great team spirit and “can do” attitude, the students launched into action the morning of April 9. A couple dozen faculty members and staff joined them.
One contingent of about 25 students split into two groups in Wooster Square. The first team spent several hours raking, sweeping and pulling up weeds at the Episcopal Church of St. Paul & St. James on the corner of Chapel and Olive streets. The second group descended upon Wooster Square Park, Russo Park and Molly McCabe School to perform similar tasks.
Wooster Square Park and the church — home of the Loaves and Fishes food pantry — were among the 19 or so different locations that this high-spirited and generously motivated group of volunteers chose as sites for their wonderful clean-up efforts.
The Rev. Alex Dyer, the priest in charge of the church, said “Action always speaks louder than words and what these young students did was nothing short of a blessing for the church congregation and the community at large. They are great.”
Other sites that were recipients of their proactive initiative included the beach at Rock Road, Catholic Family Services, Common Ground High School, Solar Youth, the Ronald McDonald House, Christian Community Action, Music Haven, New Haven Home Recovery, the Boys and Girls Club, and Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services.
“The Big Event is a university day of community service,” said Brian Pedalino, the president of the only Italian-American heritage fraternity, Alpha Phi Delta. “Those of us in the fraternity strive to give back to the community and to better ourselves as members of the community.”
Pedalino, who also serves as the board of finance chair of the Student Government Association, added that “the brothers and I felt it was necessary that we gave back to the heart of where Italian immigration started, Wooster Square.”
Peter Troiano, assistant vice president and dean of student affairs at SCSU, and Director of Judicial Affairs Chris Piscitelli.
Interestingly, the day of service, which started as an administrative initiative with student volunteers, has transformed into a student initiative with faculty and staff volunteers. According to Peter Troiano (pictured), assistant vice president and dean of student affairs for SCSU, “Students have taken the lead in providing service to the New Haven community and faculty and staff have challenged and inspired students to get involved. I am very proud of their efforts.”
The group volunteers in the New Haven community twice a year. In the fall, the focus is more on “clean-up” projects; in the springtime the to-do list includes light landscaping, cleaning, organizing, and painting.
According to Sal Rizza, associate director of student life at SCSU, this year’s Big Event committee of 12 students and a faculty advisor coordinated the entire day with some additional administrative support from the Office of Student Life. Stefan Keller, a social work major, headed the committee.
“We didn’t raise any funds but focused completely on volunteering at the sites based on the needs of the agencies,” Rizza said.
In one day, the students generated a huge pile of heaping bags of trash, leaves and debris. They left behind a freshly groomed landscape for all to enjoy. As neighbors walked the parks they were in awe of these energetic and committed college students.
Beverly Carbonella, who has lived in and around Wooster Square for close to 50 years, said, “This is very pleasant and refreshing to see these students here in this park completely of their own choice and on their own time. They are great kids and will go far in life, I am sure.”
“This is not what I did with my free time in college, I am sad to say,” remarked Wooster Street resident Mildred Homer. “I am so proud of these kids and their school for doing this for our community. I feel as if I should go home and bake them some treats for them or something.”
Green Street neighbor Tom Alexander, a new Wooster resident, was also grateful. “It’s terrific, just terrific,” he said, “that the university and their faculty and students would take time out of their Saturday and do this for our neighborhood.”