It is the beginning of the university's 125th year. So, to make it special, since this time last year, the Johns Hopkins 125th Anniversary Committee has been working to organize convocations, parties and all sorts of special activities that celebrate Hopkins' storied past for students, faculty and staff. The university is asking each of the 40,000 Hopkins faculty and staff members, regardless of which Hopkins campus they work, to spend a day volunteering in a community project. That could mean taking a day to volunteer for a neighborhood clean-up, painting a recreation center, or participating in a drive to collect toys or food for the needy.
People can work individually, or as groups with their departments, whatever they want.
We want to have at least 125 volunteer events take place over the course of the year, which we're pretty confident we can do. White, who chairs the subcommittee with Marguerite Sonneborn, executive assistant to the senior vice president of university administration, says the idea to create a university-wide year of employee outreach stemmed from a desire to make this anniversary, which is focused on celebrating Hopkins' history of contributions to humanity, a meaningful one for all the people who work at Hopkins. As Meg's group started getting together, they decided that the thing that most people wanted, was to get together as departments and groups and do something good. Volunteering together is good for morale and it builds a sense of teamwork. It seemed a very fitting way to celebrate this special anniversary.