Bard Students Raise Funds During Tough Financial Times To Develop Humanitarian Projects at Home and Abroad

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—Despite challenging financial times, Bard Trustee Leader Scholars have raised more than $37,000 collectively to develop humanitarian service projects at home and abroad. Through grants from Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, Davis Projects for Peace, and other organizations, as well as focused letter-writing campaigns and on-campus fundraising activities, student leaders in Bard’s Trustee Leader Scholar Program (TLS) have garnered significant financial support for their humanitarian work. “The extraordinary recent response to student outreach drives hope forward. The students have learned that envelope stuffing and cleanup are essential parts of a project. When the community reaches back with such wonderful support, it inspires them deeply,” says TLS director Paul Marienthal.

This January, 45 Bard student volunteers are traveling to New Orleans, Sri Lanka, Nicaragua, and Vietnam to implement community service projects that they have created and organized themselves. Following is a summary of the current projects and funds raised. Wherever possible, each student pays for his/her own travel costs so that every dollar can go directly to the work.

New Orleans Project and Children’s Expressive Arts Project, $12,000
Thirty students are traveling to New Orleans to conduct census work for the Broadmoor Improvement Association and to hold expressive arts workshops in a local elementary school.

Sri Lanka Project, $10,000
Bard senior Jennifer Lemanski will be in Sri Lanka for three months to open an expressive arts center in the metropolitan region of Colombo that will bring together Tamil, Sinhalese, and Muslim youth, ages 7–17, for after-school and weekend workshops. She will also work on developing scholarship opportunities for Sri Lankan students.

Nicaragua Exchange, $8000
Nine students are spending three weeks in Chacraseca, Nicaragua, building homes. This is the seventh consecutive January that Bard student volunteers have been there.

International TB Relief Project, $7000
Three students are spending two weeks delivering TB tests and educating communities about TB in a rural province in Vietnam.

The Trustee Leader Scholar Program (TLS) is the leadership development program for undergraduate students at Bard College. Leadership development in the TLS Program happens in the context of hands-on community service projects.
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This event was last updated on 01-30-2009

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