| Mission
Statement The
G.O.Y.A. Project was founded by Rutgers College students for the
express purpose of teaching other students the value of service
to others through volunteer projects that have both local and international
impact.
We
challenge ourselves to live up to the perspective that volunteer
work is both a practical and an intellectual opportunity to think
about other people and to work with and for other people. We
encourage ideas that foster intercultural awareness as well as practical
projects to assist families and communities.
Without
opportunities like those provided by GOYA to our peers, they run
a risk of living through a highly truncated college experience that
is limited to classroom work and parties. |
Volunteers
Make A Difference! Our
volunteers have worked on projects including “Habitat for Humanity,”
Elijah’s Promise (outreach to the homeless), the American Red Cross,
Women Aware and many other charities. The initiatives selected by
GOYA stimulate participants to link study at the university with
what happens in the wider world beyond the university.
G.O.Y.A. volunteers at spring 2002
Habitat for Humanity project |
| Walk
For Literacy
Each
fall G.O.Y.A., partnering with the Global Literacy Project, hosts
the Make-A-Difference Day “Walk For Literacy.” Make
A Difference Day is the most encompassing national day of helping
others—a celebration of neighbors helping neighbors.
The
primary aims of this walk-a-thon are two-fold:
-
To promote public awareness of the value of literacy for the
world’s poor; and;
- To
raise money to obtain resources for literacy support programs
as well as for shipping the books that we collect.
The
walk-a-thon begins from the Cook/Douglass Campus and ends with a
literacy awareness rally on College Avenue. |
Make-A-Difference
Day
An
integral part of our mission involves participating in “Make-A-Difference
Day.
Created
by USA WEEKEND Magazine and its nearly 600 carrier newspapers, Make
A Difference Day is an annual event that takes place on the fourth
Saturday of every October.
Young
and old, individuals and groups, anyone can carry out a volunteer
project that helps others on Make A Difference Day.
G.O.Y.A.
members hold an annual Book Drive where
they also volunteer to sort and pack donated books destined to create
school and community libraries in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.
GOYA
also holds a community service activity on
this day. |
| The
People of G.O.Y.A.
G.O.Y.A.
was founded by several Rutgers College students who were inspired
by Reshma Roshania of “RU w/the Homeless” and by the activism of The Global Literacy Project, Inc. Sivan Yosef, Arpan Dasgupta
and Renee Mcanney co-founded the organization with the express purpose
of inspiring other students about the value of service to others
through volunteer projects that had both local and international
impact.
We
are always looking for students with innovative project ideas to
get involved with. We encourage ideas that foster intercultural
awareness as well as practical projects to assist families and communities.
G.O.Y.A.
makes a difference because our members are interested in reaching
out to the community and helping to make a difference.
|
The
Spring Event
Each
spring semester, G.O.Y.A. hosts an event that also acts as
an opportunity to expose Rutgers students to volunteering opportunities
in the community right around us.
Featuring
student bands, poets and a variety of speakers, it serves to bring
the outside community closer to the “ivory tower” thus allowing
students to gain a real insight as to how they can, with relatively
little effort, truly make a difference.
Community
Volunteerism
Teaching
the value of service to others through volunteer projects reaching
from the local to the global has led to life expanding experiences.
For example, several of our volunteers ended up visiting South Africa
and Kenya. This was because they were involved in collecting and
shipping books to Africa through G.O.Y.A.’s volunteer work, causing
them to develop an interest in extending their knowledge. |
