A haunted house for local children and a "Beirut for Beirut" tournament to aid the Red Cross in Lebanon are among the projects Brown's 11 program houses have undertaken this semester to fulfill community service requirements.
Program houses are required to complete two community service projects each semester to comply with regulations for maintaining program house status overseen by Residential Council and Senior Associate Dean for Residential Life Richard Bova. The guidelines for community service projects are flexible and allow students to pursue service in a way that often relates to the theme of each individual house, Bova said.
"We're fairly open-minded," said Residential Council Chair Justin Glavis-Bloom '07. "A community service project could be a single large event or a display of smaller but continuous involvement." Glavis-Bloom added that the rules do not specify how many members of each house must participate in the community service projects.
"We're also looking to see how well each house met the goal that they were trying to accomplish," Bova said.
As one of its community service projects for this semester, Art House organized a haunted house yesterday for Brown students and children in the community, said Natalie Korth '08, community service director for the house, which occupies space in Harkness House.
In an interview with The Herald Saturday, Korth said she expected every Art House member would help set up the haunted house, post flyers and perform.
As their second project this semester, about 15 members of Art House spent four hours screening 100 T-shirts that were sold on Love Your Body Day in October, Korth said.
"We volunteered to help them last year and decided to do it again this year because it went so well last fall," she said.
In addition to its traditional commitment to volunteer at local food kitchens over Thanksgiving, Technology House is also organizing a videogame tournament this semester to raise money for the African Committee, a group that provides health, housing and legal and social services to African refugees.
"We want to make it fun for both experienced and inexperienced players to attract more people," said Michael Katzourin '07, president of Tech House, which also occupies part of Harkness House. "We're also looking to get a corporate sponsor to match the donations, as well as having raffles and prizes at the tournament," he added.
In previous semesters, Tech House worked with Habitat for Humanity to fulfill its community service requirement. Members of the house traveled up to an hour to volunteer at sites for approximately five or six hours, Katzourin said.
"The Tech House isn't only about electronics. We also have a lot members interested in building," Katzourin said. "The Habitat for Humanity projects are really in line with the interests of Tech House members."
Buxton International House tries to make an impact internationally through its community service projects. This semester the house is sponsoring the Buxton for Beirut series, which includes "Beirut for Beirut" and "Backgammon for Beirut," said Buxton Community Chair Ameer Ameeri '08. Buxton will donate the money raised at these events to the American Red Cross in Lebanon.
"Every year we pick an area that we try to help," Ameeri said. "Last year we had fundraisers to raise money after the earthquake in Pakistan."
Members of Interfaith House, which is located in Diman House, currently volunteer at an after-school program run by South Providence Neighborhood ministries. "We assist with homework, read with the children, set up activities and play with/supervise the kids," wrote Samuel Hitov '09, the house's community service coordinator, in an e-mail to The Herald.
Buxton, Art House and Tech House have similar approaches to choosing which projects to pursue, and all members of the houses are encouraged to participate in the discussion and decision-making process.
"Our meetings are pretty long," Korth said. "We toss around ideas, debate, vote and even revote. It may be a little disorganized, but at the same time it's empowering and makes everyone in the house feel welcome to make a contribution to what we're going to be doing."
"We have one person responsible for finding community service projects," Katzourin said. "They bring ideas to the meetings, and the entire house decides which projects we want to go through with."
At the end of each semester, Residential Council reviews each program house's community service projects to assess whether they have met the requirement.
"We have a meeting at the beginning of the semester to hand out a folder with a copy of the requirements, forms to fill out and information on what we're looking for," Glavis-Bloom said. Each house returns its folder to ResCouncil late in the semester with proof of its service, which can include contact numbers, estimates of the number of participants, table slips and even photos, he said.
After reviewing the folders, ResCouncil presents findings to Bova regarding whether houses lived up to the requirements.
Bova said he has been very pleased with the work and commitment demonstrated by the various program houses in his time at Brown.
"In the last three years, no groups have really missed the boat, but there have been some instances where improvement was suggested," Bova said. "In general, program houses are really great at taking up this work."
Bova said he believes program houses benefit from the required community service projects.
"It allows members to utilize their leadership skills and make a contribution, as students coming together under a theme, to the Providence community at large."
Members of various program houses said they shared Bova's sentiment and found their houses reaped benefits as a result of their service.
"I think it's a great idea because it really promotes in-house community and cooperation," Korth said. "We start really appreciating each other's talents the more we work together, and it also allows us to become more visible on campus."
"I think we would definitely pursue community service even if it wasn't required," Ameeri said. "But I think that making it required is better because it makes the commitment a lot more solid so that people don't flake out."
