SEMESTER SP10 ITINERARY

Alliance For Change has officially began their new season this year!

Current Project:

Dance for Haiti

March 19th 2010

more info coming soon

Semester's Itinerary:

Inner City Youth Education Workshops

Feed the Homeless Event

Eliminating Dorm Waste

University clearer communication

We welcome you to our meetings where we brainstorm how to make the most effective changes in our community, share, and discover.

Everyone is welcome. Alumni, community members, outside university students.

We would love to collaborate with other universities this year! If your interested, please contact me!

Meeting Times

Mondays 8pm

University of the Arts

Pine Dorms 1500 Pine St

Study Lounge (across from elevators)

All members must present IDs for entry

From Homeless to Stable

We often find ourselves swallowed up inside our own despair. The weights that often come, heavy, and bearing down on us, without announcement and without mercy can sometimes take us by surprise and often knock us off our feet. It's during these times where you question reality. Question life. Question the people around you. But it's not until you lift your head and realize that with each new sunset, if you're fortunate enough to still have your breath in you're body, there's hope. There's a chance for something new and something different to completely transform your life.

Around 2007, after years of verbal abuse, my mother finally drew the last straw and decided that life with my father was no longer possible. The transition made me realize that its not a tri-level house with all its furnishings, land, and luxuries that make life pleasurable but peace. And love. And joy.

It was soon after that I too was kicked out of the abode I called a home and for the first time ever... face reality. Grow up. Take the reins of my life.

I went from home to home with simply a bag a clothes and some bare necessities. I even spent a while sleeping in my mothers rented room where, weeks prior, I was refused by my own kin because I didn't have any money. I didn't have a job. Yet, I was a sophomore in college and refused to drop out. Refused to give up.

Ironically, though everything had turned against me, I had peace. I'd be remiss not to mention that it was God's peace. Somehow I knew without any proof that everything would be ok and this would only be for a short season in my life. Something I would grow from. Something that I could learn from.

No one had the answer for me. No one seemed to be able to offer any source of help. Even if they really wanted to. For me, it was only God. It was only God who could have touched the hearts of the administrators of my university to add me on as a Resident Assistant. Just as abruptly as everything had transpired, everything threaded itself back together. All of sudden I had not just one job but three. And free housing. At first I had nothing. No food, no dishes... but hearts were touched. The church I attended gave out free bags of food on Sundays and a women that I worked with gave me all her additional/unwanted dishes and pots. Everything came together. I never wanted for anything through the whole situation. I always had food to eat even if it was given to me at the last minute on a whim. I always had a place to lay my head even if it was on a clutter floor next to someone else. I never had to lay on a street corner...Thankfully...

It was through this experience that I realized something had to give. Something had to change within our society. Our Father had called us to love one another yet I couldn't even stay with my own family for free when I needed it. Finally I felt an actual true and understanded passion for the tens of homeless people I passed by on the street corners on way to school everyday. And it was this that planted its first seedlings in my heart to start Alliance For Change Outreach Ministries.

As I looked over the pictures following the castastrophe of the Haiti earthquakes and reading the articles I couldn't even fathom what it may have been like for one's life to take such a drastic turn in a simple moments passing. I did however know that I definitely wanted to reach out in whatever way I could.

LET'S GET IT STARTED!

Hello everyone!

I hope you've all had a good break and are almost ready for your return.

Here is a rough review of what will be coming up this next semester:

Tentative First Meeting

Monday 25th of January @ 8pm

Pine Study Room

1500 Pine

across from elevators

If this is not a good time for you, please email me your schedule so that we can work out a better time.

Upcoming Events

Feed the Homeless

Art Workshops with the inner city youth

Promoting a "waste not" in our dorms

Clearer Communication on our campus

Join Us, All Welcome!

This organization is open to everyone! Including the public, alumni, and outside students. If you are interested, please contact me. I would also like to ask returning members to please email me their schedules for next semester so that we can choose an appropriate meeting time. I can be reached at johnsonr@uarts.edu

HOPE TO SEE YOU OUT THIS YEAR!

See you next Semester!

Clothing Drive Update

Unfortunately, ADC and Student Development were not able to collaborate with Alliance for Change concerning the clothing drive. So, we decided to try something of a smaller scale. On December 7th Kalina Dietzel and I went door to door in the Pine and Furness dorms to pick up clothing donations. The responses were beautiful! All of the students were concerned and willing to donate. We collected three large bags in that day alone.

What We Still Need

We would still like to slip a flyer under each resident of Juniper and the Spruce dorms door, but we need help doing so. If you are a Uarts student or RA and would like to assist us, let me know.

We still need to place donation boxes in Juniper and Spruce. AASU graciously has agreed to donate their donation boxes used during the Winter Ball to assist with our project but we are still waiting for them to be emptied out.

Our Last Meeting

We also had our last meeting of the semester on yesterday. After collecting the donations, Kalina and I returned to the Pine Study room for our end of the year feast! We had pizza, compliments of Pine Street Pizza, and hand tossed salad, fresh bakery bread and butter, and drinks.

We spent the night evaluating the program and sharing our meal with those who popped in, lured by the smell of pizza.

Surely we have had a rewarding year!

What's Happening Next Semester!

Eliminating Waste in Dorm Proposal

Every semester and program's end tons of food, furniture, clothes, and supplies are thrown out. AFCOM would like to collaborate with Residential Life in order to instill a program that will take this waste and contribute it to local outreach ministries or businesses.

University Communication Proposal

Flyers are always strewed any old type of way, making it hard for the students to know what things are going on. AFCOM has a proposal to eliminate this.

Feed the Homeless with collaboration of ADC

Working with the Inner City Youth

We plan to collaborate with ADC concerning this. More details soon.

Questions? Ideas? Comments?

Join Us, All Welcome!

This organization is open to everyone! Including the public, alumni, and outside students. If you are interested, please contact me. I would also like to ask returning members to please email me their schedules for next semester so that we can choose an appropriate meeting time. I can be reached at johnsonr@uarts.edu

Acknowledgement

THANK YOU KALINA DIETZEL FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK AND DEDICATION!!!

Hope to hear from you soon!

Greetings!

Winter Ball

Our collaboration with AASU(African American Student Union), LSU(Latino Student Union), and Friends not Food, was a great success! The event took place on Dec. 4th, this past Friday. It was a learning experience for everyone, but together we were able to collect over three boxes of toys for Red Cross and over $200 for AidsLaw... And this was with the help of generally college students!

The night opened with food catered by LSU, Friends not Food, and AASU. Quizayra Gonzalez's mom threw down in the kitchen for this event with some absolutely delicious Latin American Dishes. Everyone happily talked amongst themselves while enjoying the food and before long all the food that had been ordered, including drinks, were gone.

Our opening gig, "Swift Techniques," hyped up the crowd while everyone finished up their meals and had everyone on their feet and begging for more by the end of their act.

Next our guest DJ/MC came on. We transitioned into LSU's "Salsa Lessons" and danced our feet off with the help and instruction of PhillyBloco/Alo Brasil's Angelica Cassimiro(current dance student at the Uarts). Ashley Clark also shared her time with us by taking some beautiful photos of groups of friends, couples, or singles. All of this was free with a simple donation of $5 or a toy. We were able to raffle off a few gifts and then finally at the end of night everyone banded together to help get the auditorium back into its original state.

Needless to say, I was dog-tired by the end of night but still had a fabulous time! Several people approached us during the duration of the night and shared their enjoyment and how they had been so impressed by the event.

Thank you to everyone who contributed! Especially you members of the organizations. You all worked so hard and because of this we were able to put a smile on someone's face because of the generous contributions!

Special Thanks

We would also like to especially thank Josh, City Paper Journalist, AFCOM's Advisor, Tim Appignani, and other friends for joining us and also making a notable contribution.

Myself and some of the other organization heads had the privilege of being interviewed/videotaped by Josh who was collecting research for a project. I was thankful to be of service and it was nice to talk about the organization and it's work.

Thank you again to everyone who made this project possible!

Feed the Homeless on Thanksgiving

No Meeting Next Week

Tentatives changes TBA

As I will be performing next Monday around 7pm in the Arts Bank Cabaret Space for Singer-Songwriter.

What are you doing this Thanksgiving?

I would like to cordially invite you to sacrifice an hour of your time early Thanksgiving afternoon to give back to the community. AFCOM is collaborating with Church on the Water(COTW) who will be giving out bagged meals to the homeless and less fortunate of the Camden area. Meals normally consist of a turkey sandwich with mayo packets, juice, napkins, and a slice of apple pie. The event will start approx 1:30pm at the Walter Rand Transportation Center( Martin Luther King Blvd & Broadway, Camden, NJ) and will end approx 2:30-3pm. This particular area in Camden, much like many areas in Philadelphia, is a home to many homeless, drug addicts, prostitutes, those suffering from mental illnesses, and more. Volunteers will spend time handing out meals, conversing with the public, praying, and extending an ear to those who need it. The event will end when all meals have been handed out. We are currently seeking out transportation from the school so please do not feel pressured concerning your getting there and back.

Would you like to volunteer or make a donation? Contact us.

Give out bagged meals

Thanksgiving Day

Walter Rand Transportation Center

Camden, NJ

1:30- 2:30/3pm

ADC Bake Sale

This Wednesday around lunch time!

Terra Building

We will be giving away some good ol' mama's home cooking. $1 per side. Please help support the African Diaspora Collective organization.

"Hat for my Head"

i.e. Clothing Drive

Now- thru Dec 18th

Taking ALL articles of clothing especially jackets.

Would you like to SCHEDULE A PICK UP time/place for your donations? Contact us.

Winter Ball

On last Tuesday, AFCOM had a chance to meet with the Uarts', African American Student Union(AASU). There, AFCOM, AASU, and even LSU's Mark Hernandez(president) discussed their roles as collaborators in AASU's upcoming winter ball. Once again, get your financial/ toy donations ready now as we will be assisting Aid's Law and Red Cross with their ventures. Mark the date on your calendars now!

Dec 4th

Gershman Y

Levitt Auditorium

7:30pm-12am

All students with ID must present a minimum of $5 or a toy donation for entry

Non students, minimum of $5 for entry

Come join us at this semi-formal event. There will be Latin dishes, a salsa lesson, an open gallery, giveaways, a live DJ with Dancing, and more.

Would you like to have/sale something in the Gallery? Claim your space now! Questions/concerns, please contact us.

Our meetings are every Monday @ 8pm in the Pine Study Room (across from the elevators in the Pine Dorm). Everyone is welcome including the public, outside schools, and alumni. Please bring IDs as you must sign in at the front door. The Pine dorms are located on the corner of 15th and Pine.

"AFCOM works to promote unity and change by offering resources, information, and serving as a liaison between the University organizations, outside outreach ministries, and fellow schools as inspired by I Cor. 12:12-31 & Act 4:32-37."

Follow us on FB &/or Twitter

Have a great week and hope to hear from you soon!

Holiday Dinner Give Away!

Greetings!

AFCOM had a fabulous meeting on yesterday at 8pm in the Pine Study Room. The meeting lasted no more than an hour but much progress was made! This week, AFCOM was graced by none other than our very own Marcus Myers, the Uarts, drum major who came to us a while back with the brilliant idea for a food give away! Myers wanted to extend the giving away of food to the homeless/ less fortunate community near Thanksgiving as well as Christmas. However, it was already too late in the game to pull something together for Thanksgiving.

So, instead of rummaging for resources at the last minute, AFCOM has agreed to collaborate with Church on the Water(COTW). Church on the Water is a fabulous non-denominational ministry located on the back streets and greenery of 246 Stanger Avenue in Glassboro NJ. AFCOM's very own Head Liaison, Roslynn "Renee" Johnson has been a member of this awesome ministry for about six years now. COTW will doing their annual dinner giveaway this Thanksgiving early afternoon.

COTW's Dinner Handout

Nov. 26st around 1:30pm

(Thanksgiving Day)

Walter Rand Transportation Center

527 Martin Luther King Blvd

Interested? Contact us!

AFCOM, with the help of Marcus Myers and others, will also be hosting their own dinner handout, around Dec. 12th, a Saturday. If AFCOM receives enough donations, they hope to extend this Holiday Dinner to our friends at Rittenhouse Park as well as Love Park. Our friends at Iovine Brother's Produce have already agreed to contribute! We hope to make this a wonderful event with live music and an extension of love to those who may not have as much as others during this holiday season by giving them a bagged meal.

Have ideas? Resources? Info? Contact us!

Keep an eye out for ADC's bake sale next Wednesday, Nov. 18th in the Terra Building

AASU is still planning their winter ball extravaganza for this Dec. 4th for Aids Law and Red Cross

Come Make a Change With Us!

Our meetings are open to everyone(including the public and alumni), so tell a friend, and don't forget to come out on Mondays @8pm, 15th & Pine, Pine Study Room(across from elevators). Please do not forget your ID as all guests must sign in with the guard at the front desk.

Also you can follow us on Twitter or befriend us on FB.

Hope to hear from you soon!