Through our Canisius for Buffalo program, Campus Ministry helps members of the Canisius College community on their journey to be “men and women for others.”
Think of the Canisius for Buffalo as a starting point for identifying your potential. You are beginning a journey and each day you travel, every encounter with another person, every decision you make — big or small — form the road you're on.
Campus Minister Joe Van Volkenburg will review the many volunteer opportunities available and help you decide where your skills and talents can be put to best use. After meeting with Joe or another member of the Campus Ministry team, contact the agency in which you’re interested to start your volunteer service.
Getting to the service site
Most of the Canisius for Buffalo service sites can be reached by NFTA Metro bus or rail. All Canisius students have free access to the NFTA with their Canisius College student transit pass*. Visit www.nfta.com for more information on routes and schedules, or call 855-7211. Or, if you have a vehicle, consider driving yourself or start a carpool with other students who volunteer at the same site. Contact the office for more information.
*Commuter students can pick up their transit pass in the Office of Student Affairs, OM-102. Resident students can pick up their pass in Residence Life.
Service Sites
| Hospitals | AIDS Ministry | Educational Services | ||
| Mental Well-Being | Hungry/Homeless/Housing | |||
| Senior Citizens | Refugees/Immigration |
HOSPITALS
MILLARD FILLMORE GATES CIRCLE HOSPITAL**
Contact: Christine Stry
Email: cstry@kaleidahealth.org
3 Gates Circle
Phone: 887-4900
Web: www.gates.kaleidahealth.org
WOMEN’S AND CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL OF BUFFALO
Contact: Jennifer Flood
Email: jflood@kaleidahealth.org
219 Bryant Street
Phone: 878-7241
Web: www.wchob.org
BUFFALO GENERAL HOSPITAL
Contacts: Shirley Justin (T, W, and Th), Ellen Jones (everyday but Wednesday)
100 High Street
Phone: 859- 2138 or 859-2603
Web: bgh.kaleidahealth.org
In the past, students who volunteered at these hospitals worked in the ER, transported patients to and from various appointments in the hospitals, or worked with the physical therapist or the nursing staff.
**You may download an application from the Kaleida website or pick one up from OM-207. Be sure to include a copy of your medical records (physical, proof of immunization) with your application. Medical records should be available through the Student Health Center or your own doctor’s office. When the hospital receives your completed application, they will contact you to schedule a brief interview during which they will match you to an area of your interest and work out a volunteer schedule. You will also need a TB test which can be done at the hospital. If you are over the age of 18, the hospital will perform a background check because of new government regulations. There is an orientation and a minimum expectation that you will spend 40 hours during the school year at your placement.
ROSWELL PARK CANCER INSTITUTE
Contacts: Susan N. Siegel & Debbie Miga
Email: susan.siegel@roswellpark.org
Elm and Carlton Streets
Phone: 845-5708
Student Coordinator: Andrea Narduzzo, ’07
E-mail: narduzza@canisius.edu
Student volunteers can work at the gift shop or with the annual fund drive, use their background in science to become part of a dynamic research team looking for better ways to detect, prevent and stop cancer or deliver mail, give tours or escort patients and their families throughout RPCI.
Students must submit an application, available in OM- 207. Once it has been received at RPCI they will set up an interview to determine if your interests match their needs. All student volunteers will be required to attend a 2 and ½ hour orientation. RPCI offers a flexible schedule though they prefer if you work four hours per week or 40 hours through out the school year.
MENTAL WELL-BEING
COMPASS HOUSE
Contact: Joan Dutchess, Program Director
370 Linwood Avenue
Phone: 886-1351
Email: joandutchess@adelphia.net
Web: www.compasshouse.org
Opened in 1972, Compass House is a not-for-profit agency that provides safe shelter and services for runaway and homeless youth. Compass House strives to prevent chronic homelessness for every client while promoting a more stable and productive living situation. Volunteers are needed to help with daily programs at both the shelter and resource center. Training is provided for all volunteers, and most volunteer work can be organized around any major or interest.
COMPEER OF GREATER BUFFALO, INC.
Contact: Sarah Stimm
70 Barker Street
Phone: 883-3331
Web: www.compeerbuffalo.org
Email:
Compeer is a non-profit organization that uses the power of friendship to transform the lives of those striving for optimal mental health. Our volunteers are matched in one-on-one supportive friendships and mentoring relationships with children and adults receiving mental health treatment, and are expected to spend 1-4 hours per week with their friends for at least two semesters.
SENIOR CITIZENS
GRANDPARENT PROGRAM – LUTHERAN CHURCH HOME
Contact: Joan Griffin
217 E. Delavan Avenue (Delevan & Meed)
Phone: 882- 1231
Web: www.tlch.org
Student Coordinator: Kelly Kalinka,’06
Email:
The Grandparent Program is an exciting opportunity that brings together Canisius students and local senior citizens at The Lutheran Church Home near campus. Volunteers visit with the residents and often form lasting relationships through participation in monthly recreational activities including game night, arts and crafts, and field trips to the park or a ball game. Applications are available in Campus Ministry-OM 207.
AIDS MINISTRY
BENEDICT HOUSE
Contact: Bella Bolt
Email: bhmainst@adelphia.net
2211 Main Street
Phone: 834-4940
Web: www.benedicthouse.org
Student Coordinator: Rob Privitera, ‘06
Email:
The mission of Benedict House is to provide non-discriminatory residential housing opportunities and support services for persons living with AIDS in a home-like environment promoting the principles of dignity, respect, understanding, compassion and self-determination. Benedict House is just a 5-minute walk from Canisius. Student volunteers help prepare meals, visit with the residents as well as participate in crafts, bingo, and movie nights. This is an ideal site for busy students who need flexibilty.
HUNGRY/HOMELESS/HOUSING
SOUTH BUFFALO COMMUNITY TABLE
Contact: Joe Van Volkenburg, Campus Minister at x2875 or vanvolkj@canisius.edu
185 Southside Pkwy
Phone: x2420
SBCT is a community meal program where volunteers prepare and serve food to hungry people in South Buffalo on Wednesdays from 2:45 to5:15 p.m. Sign up at the front desk in Campus Ministry; transportation is provided.
ST. VINCENT DEPAUL SOCIETY
Contact: Jason Kontos
E-mail: dadzj@yahoo.comor info@svdpwny.org
Phone #: 888-2875 or e-mail at: vanvolkj@canisius.edu
1298 Main Street
Phone: 882-3360
Web: www.svdpwny.org
Canisius Contact: Joe Van Volkenburg
The Society of St. Vincent DePaul exists worldwide to serve the most basic needs of the forgotten, the suffering, and the hungry and to treat each person with dignity and compassion. Student volunteers are always and there is plenty of free, secure parking in their lot.
Dining Room: Open Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Volunteers assist with meal preparation, serve guests, help with clean-up and stocking shelves.
Family Resource Center: Volunteers are needed to help in the store, the warehouse, and with general building maintenance depending on one’s skills and interests.
This is a popular site among student groups at Canisius who want to volunteer their time together (i.e. Women’s Lacrosse team)
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY – CANISIUS COLLEGE CHAPTER
Student Coordinators: Ben Lafko & Dan Theal, ‘08
E-mails: lafkob@canisius.eduor theald@canisius.edu
Canisius Contact: Joe Van Volkenburg
Phone #: 888-2875 or e-mail vanvolkj@canisius.edu
Web:
The Canisius College Habitat Chapter works two Saturdays per month, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., during the school year building houses for needy people in the area. Sign up at in Campus Ministry, OM-207.
REFUGEES/IMMIGRATION
VIVE LACASA
Contact: Sr. Alice Gilabert
Email: ajgilabert@yahoo.com(preferred method of contact)
50 Wyoming Avenue
Phone: 892-4354
Web:
VIVE is a temporary shelter for refugees from developing countries who are temporarily staying in Buffalo enroute to Canada. Student volunteers can socialize with the children in the playroom, take refugees out to social and cultural events, help prepare meals, and visit with the residents. Opportunities also exist to assist in their legal department, helping with the intake process of new refugees.
In the past, student volunteers have arranged for the refugees to attend Canisius hockey games and have brought them to Koessler Athletic Center to play sports.
CATHOLIC CHARITIES IMMIGRATION AND RESETTLEMENT SERVICES
Contact: Tiffany Taylor
Email: taylor@ccwny.org
394 Franklin Street, Suite 200 (at Franklin & Edward)
Phone: 842-0270
Web: www.ccwny.org
Opportunities for student volunteers include assisting in ESL classes (some meet in the morning, others in the afternoon), helping with aspects of the immigration process, accompanying and helping to prepare people for job interviews, and supervising play time with children while parents are in ESL classes. Service opportunities are diverse and depend on one’s skills and interests. Open from 8:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.
JOURNEY’S END REFUGEE SERVICES
Contact: Elaine Smythe-Bogumil
Email: volunteers@jerswny.org
184 Barton Street
Phone: 882-4963
Web: www.jerswny.org
The mission of Journey’s End is to welcome refugees to Western New York without regard to ethnic origin or creed and to assist them in becoming healthy, independent, contributing members of the community. Volunteers help refugees through the resettlement process in many ways including preparing housing, arranging medical care, and helping to apply for Social Security cards. Each volunteer’s interests, talents and capabilities are matched with the organization’s current needs and opportunities.
EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF ERIE COUNTY
Contact: Michelle George
Phone: 873-5833
E-mail: mgeorge@beafriend.org
Web:
This program offers a variety of ways to become involved in the life of a child. One, student volunteers can go to one of the site based program, where they will take part in educational and recreational activities with a child. The activities typically take place between the hours of 3:30 - 5pm and student volunteers can participate one day a week (Mon. - Thurs.). The two schools mentioned below are the sites that are closest to Canisius College.
| BPS #53 Community School M, W Activity Days 329 Roehrer Ave. Buffalo, NY 14208 (1.13m from campus) |
KIPP Sankofa Charter School T Activity Day 140 Central Park Plaza Buffalo, NY. 14214 (1.47m from campus) |
Another option for student volunteers is to take part in a community based program, where they will share time with a child indiviually about three times a month for at least one year. Student volunteers can spend time with their "little" playing games, taking them to movies, etc,. and on a monthly basis there are group events for you and your "Little" to participate in with other volunteers and their "littles." Finally, another option that is available to our student groups is the group mentoring program, which brings together a group of children and their recreational therapists to local places that act as "hosts" and teach the children a new skill or activity over a few hours time. This program participates in activities Mon. - Thurs. from 6 to 8:30pm. This is something that needs to be scheduled in advanced and well thought out.
GLORIA PARKS COMMUNITY CENTER
Contact: Sonya Wilkins
3242 Main Street
Phone: 832-1010, x225
Student Coordinator: Colleen Hall, ‘07
E-mail: hall3@canisius.edu
Student volunteers are needed to help with a number of different activities including homework help, after-school activities, and athletic programs for both elementary and high school students. Elementary: Tuesday to Thursday, 3 to 5:30 p.m.; High School: Tuesday to Thursday, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.; Arts & Crafts: Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tutors are also needed for a program which typically runs from November through the end of May. There are also other opportunities to work with the elderly, delivering meals on wheels, and watching children in the nursery area.
THE HOMEWORK CLUB, COMPREHENSIVE TUTORING, INC.
Contact: Gail Bowden
E-mail: info@thehomeworkclub.org
15 Sandpiper Court
Amherst, NY. 14228
Phone: 632-9900 or 689-6833
Web: www.thehomeworkclub.org
The Homework Club is a New York State approved Supplemental Education Service Provider that works with students in all grades and all subject areas including Regents and SAT preparation. Student volunteers will be matched with children and or high school students based upon several factors such as the student volunteer's skill set, personality and level of experience. Student volunteers are needed from November through May of each year particularly at The Homework Club's satellite locations from late afternoon into the early evening Monday through Friday and Saturday morning/early afternoons. This is a wonderful organization to become a part of if you want to make the difference in the lives of children while watching them grasp concepts that were once foreign to them.
ST. AUGUSTINE SCHOLARS PROGRAM FOR YOUNG MEN
Contact: Fr. Dick Galligan, S.J.
21 Davidson Avenue (near Kensington & Bailey)
Phone: 836-5188
Student Coordinator: Katie Moran, ‘08
E-mail: morank@canisius.edu
The St. Augustine Scholars Program is for young men in grades 6, 7 and 8. The Jesuits started this model almost 30 years ago as a way to reach out to children in the lower socioeconomic regions of New York City. The goal was to provide those children with a better education that would allow them to go onto high school and eventually college. It has been very successful. The program is new to Buffalo but seems to be headed in the same direction. Volunteers are needed to help tutor the young men in the after school program as well as play games and other activities with them. It is also a chance to be a role model for these young men who often times lack supportive and stable role models in their lives.
ST. MARY'S SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF
2253 Main Street
Buffalo, NY. 14214
www.smsdk12.org
Student Coordinator: Bethany Ochal, ‘07
E-mail: ochalb@canisius.edu
St. Mary's School for the Deaf is an independent day and residential school that provides specialized services to students of all ages who are deaf, functionally deaf, hard-of-hearing, or who have a comnnunication and/or physical challenge that would benefit from their unique educational approach. Services are provided in keeping with contemporary practice, designed around the individual needs of each student, and provided in partnership with school personnel, parents and the community.
Canisius students interested in volunteering here should have some knowledge in American Sign Language; however, this is not mandatory just very helpful to both you and the students at the school. There are a variety of activities in which Canisius students can take part in, some of which are: taking them bowling, supporting them at their sporting games, helping out in the classroom, etc.