Press Releases, Student Life

NCC lends a helping hand

Nash Community College students, faculty and staff brightened the holidays for many community members, from young children to elderly residents and shut-ins, including many on its own campus. Just as the college receives support from the community all year long, the campus also feels the need to give back throughout the year.

NCC English students had philanthropic opportunities through a service project this semester. Each of NCC’s team-taught ENG 111 courses had a theme for the fall semester. The theme for one class was “Changing Our Community: One Paper at a Time”. The class focused on community service and civic responsibility. Each major paper the students wrote required them to reflect upon the theme across different rhetorical modes. As a culminating activity, they decided to bring the assignments to life. In addition to incorporating a Service Learning option into the course, students were encouraged to participate in two events to benefit the Nash County Department of Social Services Foster Care Division.

The students learned about an opportunity to enhance the Nash County Department of Social Service’s visitation room. Students from two English classes donated gently loved toys to refill and refresh the visitation room’s toy box.

Additionally, each class adopted a foster child for Christmas: a 17 year old female and an 18 year old male. Students reviewed each child’s wish list and provided gifts ranging from perfume to clothing and cash and gift cards.

Keeping in the same spirit, NCC has implemented a campus-wide effort to provide food to students in need. Each week throughout the year, a list of current food needs will be sent for faculty and staff to help refill the NCC Food Pantry. All donations are welcome. “By providing the list each week, I hope employees will pick up a few extra items during their weekend shopping. We know the needs exist not only in our community, but on our campus as well. Even one item per week from each employee could impact our students significantly,” Associate Vice President for Curriculum and Chief Program Officer Mike Latham said. The Student Government Association held a food drive to benefit the NCC Food Pantry collecting more than 1,200 items during December.

To impact the greater community, NCC’s Men Achieving Leadership & Excellence (M.A.L.E) Program participants recently volunteered at the United Community Ministries Soup Kitchen. The M.A.L.E. program provides opportunities to help males who are enrolled in curriculum programs at Nash Community College to be successful.

Similarly, the Student Government Association supported the Backpack Buddies Program at Edwards Middle School by collecting 572 nonperishable food items in December to support the program. Backpack Buddies provides a backpack filled with ready-to-eat foods for students who may not have adequate food for the weekend.

Each year, the NCC Gamma Beta Phi chapter sponsors an adopt-a-grandparent program for the residents of Trinity Retirement Villas in Nashville where members of the honor society visit with residents. At the holidays, the group provides gifts for residents fulfilling their wish lists as much as possible. NCC’s Gamma Beta Phi members have worked with Trinity Villas for more than 15 years. Residents look forward to seeing the students during each visit, and the students enjoy helping others through this and other service projects.

NCC student clubs also held a “Penny Wars” competition raising $117 for United Way in December. By supporting the United Way Tar River Region, programs like Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, the Boys and Girls Club, My Sister’s House, Meals on Wheels, the Harrison Family YMCA, NC 2-1-1, Communities in Schools, the Fred Turnage Chapter of the American Red Cross and many more organizations are able to continue to operate, provide services to, and help meet the needs of more than 75,000 people in our community. In 2014, 178 NCC employees contributed a total of $19,327 to NCC’s United Way campaign.

For the holidays, students, faculty and staff collected more than 300 non-perishable food items to donate to the Peacemakers – an organization serving the under-resourced area of South Rocky Mount by empowering citizens to lead sustainable, successful lives. The College also offers educational opportunities through its partnership with Peacemakers.

As you can see, NCC takes seriously its responsibility to foster lifelong learning opportunities for individuals, communities, and organizations through community partnerships. As we often say, “Community” is our middle name; and we are proud to make the community part of our everyday efforts not only through instruction, programs and services, but also through our goodwill.