Often our stances are filled with rants on local, state and national issues that include or affect UCF’s student body. We are not against positive stories or stances, though.
Today’s issue of the paper contains a few stories on the charitable projects that UCF students and graduates are conducting. We felt that they were noteworthy.
The story of UCF alumna Laura Monroe warms our hearts for several reasons.
By donating her handmade knitted scarves, hats and gloves to the homeless of Central Florida, Monroe is helping warm those who are in an unfortunate and hopefully temporary situation.
Monroe is donating her time and money to complete strangers without the incentive of future fellowships or scholarships. She is not doing it to make money or expand her résumé. Monroe kept seeing a bunch of cold people so she took something she knew and enjoyed and created a new nonprofit organization.
We also appreciate her decision to not include any religious affiliation while she jump-starts her organization, Orlando Knits.
Religious groups are a main contributor to philanthropic work and should be appreciated for their generous contributions to society. But Monroe is offering a helping hand with no stipulations. She is an admirable alumna because of her generous and accepting nature.
The other notable UCF organization featured in today’s paper is the Junior Achievement program that recently earned the President’s Volunteer Service Award.
The award, which honors organizations for their dedication to community service, was awarded to 16 recipients, but UCF was the only university.
UCF surpassed all Junior Achievement contributors, including other award winners AT&T and General Electric, with almost 200,000 hours of community service. This is an impressive accomplishment for college students who comprise a generation that is constantly labeled as entitled and apathetic.
UCF students partner with Junior Achievement as part of their curriculum and help Central Florida schools organize and run fundraising projects. Some classes help schools design projects like school beautification and field day events. Sometimes these are events the schools would not be able to afford otherwise.
In a time when jobs are scarce and competition is high, it can be hard to find time to help others. These members of UCF’s community are promising parts of their hectic schedules though.
Whether you participate in Junior Achievement or Orlando Knits, you should feel proud of your fellow students and alumni for their dedication to serving the Central Florida community.
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