Growing up on Syracuse’s Westside, Syeisha Byrd said she could feel the distance between the city and the university sitting on the Hill.

‘People look up on the Hill and say, ‘I wish I could,” Byrd said. Many locals have never stepped foot on campus, she said.

As a young teenager, Byrd played at her local Boys and Girls Club with Syracuse University students who volunteered. Appointed in September as director of the Office of Engagement Programs at Hendricks Chapel, Byrd said she is working to build connections with the community. There are many opportunities for SU students to participate in the community, but not all choose to do so, which Byrd hopes to change.

Byrd said she believes in building sustainable relations with the community and seeing students return to volunteer. Too often students will participate once, she said.

‘But after that, what happens?’ she said.

There was a large student presence at the annual Thanksgiving drive at Hendricks this year — about 100 students helped to make holiday cards or fill bags with eight to 10 food items. But with an undergraduate class of about 13,000, Byrd said there could be more help.

This year’s annual drive was one of the more successful in recent years, Byrd said. Last year SU volunteers put together 17 bags, and this year there were 67 bags. Hendricks is in the process of distributing the goods to the Huntington Family Center and Faith Hope Community Center. The drive has been collecting and bagging goods for Thanksgiving baskets for more than 18 years.

Though the Thanksgiving drive at Hendricks was successful, the annual Food for Fines program saw its worst turnout ever, said Bevan Angier, supervisor at E.S. Bird Library. The drive was held the first week in November and brought in 288 items, Angier said. Last year that number was more than 1,100.

The drive is another mechanism for students to pay library fines, as each food item represents a dollar in fines. The program runs at Bird, Martin Luther King Jr. and Barclay Law libraries, as well as the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry’s Moon Library.

Although last year the event was held in early December, there was otherwise no change in promoting the event, Angier said. The program runs again in the spring, as there is a year-round need. Angier said she is looking for a student group on campus to help with the effort.

Fines that would go to the libraries are instead donated as food items to Cathedral Emergency Services, located downtown. It’s a win-win situation, Angier said, where students can eliminate fines and pantries can collect much-needed food.

Peter Parrillo, director of downtown Syracuse’s Cathedral Emergency Services, said charities, such as the Food for Fines drive, are what the center relies on. If there has been a decrease in giving, it’s due to timing, not a lack of generosity, Parrillo said. The economy has been rough on everyone, he said.

He said he is always grateful for donations and help from SU students and staff. The downtown clinic provides food, clothing and medical help for those in need.

In the middle of the Thanksgiving rush, Parrillo said the center was giving away 4,000 meals, enough for 400 families.

‘It’s always a wonderful thing if people get involved in helping their fellow neighbors,’ Parrillo said.

The center is fortunate enough to have so much help that ‘volunteers are stepping on one another,’ Parrillo said. He said SU students from the law school and graduate program help, but many of the volunteers are retired people from the Syracuse community. He said he would like to see students help unload trucks filled with supplies.

Barbara Grimes, the director of Wilson Park Community Center on McBride Street, said she is fortunate to be located near the university. The center is walking distance, so unlike other local centers, Wilson Park gets its ‘fair share’ of students, she said. About a dozen students volunteer regularly.

Grimes said she and other parks and recreation community centers would welcome additional volunteers.

‘If the students up there are looking to volunteer, then we’re here,’ Grimes said.

She said the center is preparing for the holiday season, and there will be events throughout the city where students can help.

SU students will have more opportunities on campus to give, said Byrd, the director of engagement at Hendricks. A canned goods drive during the annual holiday choir performance at Hendricks on Dec. 5 will go toward helping feed local migrant workers.

There will always be those who are less fortunate, but encouraging students to go downtown or for the community to come to campus are ways to start helping, Byrd said.

She said: ‘I think that opens a lot of doors.’

dkmcbrid@syr.edu

Published on November 30, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Dara: dkmcbrid@syr.edu | @daramcbride