Community Day is a Beloved Tradition

Every year since 2000, Alverno cancels classes for a day so that students, faculty and staff can participate in Community Day, a day set aside for service. Since its inception, over 8,000 students, faculty and staff have volunteered more than 25,700 hours of service on Community Day. This year, nearly 200 people registered to give of their time and talents to help with various projects on campus and in the community.

Some of the volunteer opportunities included removing invasive species from the campus bioswale and rain garden, knitting hats for winter care kits for the unhoused, and making sandwiches for St. Ben’s meal program.

“It’s important to get a feel for Alverno,” said Chloe Brown, class of 2024. “Community Day represents Alverno’s mission, and it highlights all the good that goes on here.” Brown worked on a mural project for the new Center for Learning and Assessment Support in the Sister Joel Read Center.

Holly McCoy ’10, ’15, executive director of Literacy Services of Wisconsin, helped kick things off during her keynote address by encouraging students to give of themselves. “Lean into today,” she told students. “I am showing up because showing up and leaning in is how we discover what our purpose is.”

Rosie Robles, class of 2025, spent time making tote bags out of tee shirts to use in the campus food pantry. “I wanted to be active on campus and see what I can take away from the experience. I want to be able to say that I made my time here valuable.”

In addition to the service projects offered on Community Day, students were encouraged to volunteer throughout the year. “We wanted to emphasize sustained community involvement and the ways it can have a positive impact on students’ futures,” said Ann Romei, assistant dean of students. “Because of this, we’re organizing monthly service opportunities, with the hope that students will see how volunteering not only supports the community, but benefits them as well.”

“My passion is being able to help my community,” said Ivonna Gentry, class of 2025. “My goal is to be able to give back because I’ve been blessed, and I want to bless others.”

Community Day by the numbers

• Nearly 500 sandwiches made and donated to St. Ben’s meal program and Guest House of Milwaukee
• 253 boxes of archives moved from the basement of Corona Hall to the new location in Founders Hall
• 75 tee shirt bags made
• 10 bags of trash cleaned up from a nearby highway
• 10 hats knitted for use in local hospitals
• Both the rain garden and bioswale were weeded