On May 31st, Columbia Community Service provided $353,400 in grants to 60 local community organizations. The grants were made possible by generous donations from staff, faculty, and retirees of Columbia, Barnard, and Teachers College. CCS grantees work tirelessly to meet the needs of our neighbors by providing services that are focused on elder care and intergenerational partnerships, children and education, afterschool programs, substance abuse, healthy communities, arts and the environment.
Over the past year employees also donated over 500 backpacks to the Back to School Drive, while departments across all three campuses contributed over 340 bags of coats, clothing and accessories to the Clothing Drive. Several donations of computers, printers and other technology were also distributed to our community partners. In addition, a number of CCS initiatives were held throughout the year. Employees attended and participated in food demonstrations with Chef Mike of Dining Services. Barnard College held its annual Bike-A-Thon, which attracted over 100 participants; and employees from several departments played in the CCS Charity Basketball Tournament, which drew colleagues, family and friends to the Levien Gymnasium. CCS also distributed over 1,000 toys collected from the annual Toy Drive to 12 community organizations.
If you are interested in becoming more involved with CCS, please consider becoming a CCS Ambassador by lending your time to support our fundraising efforts, increase donor participation among your peers, and strengthen the relationships between the University and CCS agencies.
We thank our donors for all their support in making all this possible and look forward to even greater success in the coming year.
