Harward Center for Community Partnerships hosts Partnerships Day

The Bates College Harward Center for Community Partnerships, in coordination with the college’s Student Volunteer Fellows, will hold a Community Partnerships Day from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, May 12.

Partnering with 10 local organizations to build community and address local needs, more than 75 Bates student volunteers will work together with local organizations throughout the day and conclude with a celebration, including a nature walk, live music and a barbecue. “We are thinking about this as a day of partnerships,” says student coordinator Katie Seamon, a senior from Leverett, Mass.

The Harward Center is working with the following area organizations for Community Partnerships Day: the Abused Women’s Advocacy Project, the Good Shepherd Food Pantry, Lots to Gardens, Rural Community Action Ministries, New Beginnings, Androscoggin Land Trust, Lewiston Housing Authority, Seniors Plus, River Valley Estates and the Stanton Bird Club.

Registration for the day takes place from 9 to 10:30 a.m. in Chase Hall, 56 Campus Ave., Bates College. Project work will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and include a 2006 senior class project, where 45 Bates seniors are scheduled to repaint apartments from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Meadowview Housing Development, on Spoffard Street, behind the Sabbatus Street Friendly’s.

A Stanton Bird Club-led community nature walk will leave from the Festival Plaza in Auburn at 4 p.m. and follow the River Walk, returning to Festival Plaza.  There will be live music there from 4 to 5 p.m., followed by a community barbecue. In case of rain, the barbecue will be held in the Ronj Coffee House, 32 Frye St., Bates College.

According to its organizers, the event will occur rain or shine, but torrential downpours may change the schedule somewhat. Most of the projects have rain alternatives.
For more information, please call 207-786-6202.

The Harward Center links the college’s academic mission with its commitment to service and partnerships. It aims to work with community partners to meet community needs and, in the process, to integrate civic engagement with the Bates educational experience.  The Harward Center provides an institutional structure and resource for collaborations with the community.

The four Student Volunteer Fellows work with community agencies to develop volunteer opportunities in the Lewiston-Auburn area and to match fellow Bates students appropriately