Upcoming Servathon to raise funds, awareness

On August 19, Bonner Scholars will participate in the First Annual Servathon, which will mobilize the entire membership in three different issue areas. Teams of Bonners will clean up a portion of Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park in Trenton, complete the painting of a mural at the West Ward Community Center, and volunteer at Visitation Home, which assists adults with developmental disabilities. Each Bonner is encouraged to raise at least $100 through gaining sponsorships from family, friends, and even local businesses to support their service work for the day. The overall goal is to raise $5000 to support the Center's community engaged learning efforts, as well as to raise awareness of the diverse range of social issues addressed by Bonner Scholars throughout the year. “I think it is important in the beginning of the school year that we establish a more solid relationship with the community we will be working with,” said senior Bonner Scholar Briana Villei, who is organizing the event. Assisting in the environmental clean up will be both local residents and members of the Capital Corridor Community Development Corporation’s neighborhood youth group. “We want to come in and form a partnership with them,” said George Bradley, a community partner who works for the New Jersey State Park Service. “We want to make them stakeholders.”

Environmental Site - BEFORE

Overgrown and littered with waste, this portion of Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park in nearby Trenton, NJ will be one of three sites that Bonner Scholars will work at for the First Annual Servathon, which will take place on August 19.

West Ward Community Center Mural - BEFORE

On August 19, Bonner Scholars will paint the remainder of this mural at the West Ward Community Center, Trenton, which was first painted as part of a Community Engaged Learning Day led by the Bonner Center last Spring (http://tcnjserves.pbworks.com/February+4%2C+2009+-+Neighborhood+Beautification).