One of the questions I always ask Hamilton students and others who volunteer, is why they do it.  Is it because someone helped you in the past and you want to pay it forward? Is it for a resume builder? Is it a moral obligation?

So tell me, why do you volunteer?

Here are some of the answers I have received over the years:

I volunteer because I like to do it, it makes me feel good to know that I am making a difference and helping others who are not as privileged as me. I think a lot of people take what we have for granted and don’t stop and think how we could help others.

I love to volunteer because it is so rewarding to see how just a little effort on your part can make such a big difference to an individual or community. I wish I had the time and money to volunteer more or participate in bigger projects.

I like helping people and I know I appreciate it when people I don’t know volunteer to help in my community at home. It shows that I value/appreciate what my community has done for me and therefore I take the initiative to, for lack of a better phrase, "give back"

I volunteer because it's a fun way to meet new people while simultaneously helping others. All of the problems in the world sometimes make me feel overwhelmed and hopeless. Volunteering with HAVOC allows me to feel like I am taking a step toward solving these problems. I know that kindness can't solve every problem, but I definitely think it can solve a lot of them. If everyone just spent a few hours a week helping others, the world would be an infinitely happier place.

Come to Hamilton's biggest casino night of the year and support the Clinton A Better Chance House! Play Texas Hold' Em, Black Jack, Craps, Roulette, and Bingo for the chance to win a Nintendo Wii, 22 inch flat screen TV, an iPod Touch, and other great prizes.

T-Shirts are being sold in Beinecke all week from 11-1. Stop by, get a great shirt, and help out a charity in need.

For more information on the cause, visit http://www.abetterchance.org/

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In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, HAVOC will send students from Hamilton College into the surrounding communities for a day of service. With four buses full of students from all class years, HAVOC will volunteer at numerous organizations, including Alterra Assisted Living Center, Emmaus House, For the Good, Hope House, Johnson Park Center, Loretto Center, Neighborhood Center, Rescue Mission, Root Farm, Underground Café, Kirkland Town Library and Rome Humane Society. Most students will be participating in special activities and projects the organizations would not be able to accomplish without volunteer help.

Though registration for the event was meant to extend throughout the entire week, it was closed early due to extensive and broad student interest. "At first, we had a few more volunteers than our organizations requested," related Director of HAVOC Brian Mizoguchi '11. "Fortunately, we were able to sign up another site where we could volunteer so everybody will be doing something helpful." According to Mizoguchi, a number of community partners where HAVOC regularly sends volunteers for major service days were unable to accommodate volunteers. A few cited their inability to divert staff resources for weekend work during these tight financial times.

HAVOC would like to thank the Associate Dean of Students for Diversity and Accessibility, Allen Harrison, for partially funding this event. 

-- MLK Service Day : One more way HAVOC Helps --

After using the same logo for the last 12 years, the HAVOC "seal" became outdated when directors adjusted the name of the organization to Hamilton Association for Volunteering, Outreach, and Charity, from its 1988/89 original name, Hamilton Action Volunteer Outreach Coalition. Designed to be reminiscent of the Hamilton "H" and immediately inform viewers that HAVOC is a helping, service-based organization, the logo features two hands reaching from opposite ends toward each other - one offering assistance to the other in need. The logo is designed to stand alone as well as be accompanied by additional identifying text.

Take a good look around and feel free to give feedback!