This past Saturday, Nov. 13, the Senior Week Committee at Fordham’s Rose Hill campus partnered with a local Bronx organization, Part of the Solution (POTS), to hold its first-ever Community Clean Up.

The event served as Fordham’s annual Senior Service Day, part of the Senior Week Committee’s string of programs tailored to graduating students throughout the year.
POTS is a community center only steps away from Fordham’s gates on Webster Avenue which has routinely partnered with the university to encourage selflessness, community development and unity among students and volunteers.

The three employees involved in coordinating the event described their relationship with the university as “longstanding,” as the school provides “vital volunteering” and financial support, which has helped them meet their “increasing demand for services,” especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Diego Padilla, director of communications at POTS, Dan Rostan, director of development, and Stephanie Caban, volunteer coordinator, all played crucial roles in organizing the event in conjunction with the university.

Together, the three POTS staff members described POTS’ ethos as “a loving community in the Bronx that nourishes the basic needs and hungers of all,” emphasizing its willingness to aid anyone in need. They provide a “mosaic of services” and work tirelessly to accommodate the Bronx community, according to the POTS staff. With the COVID-19 pandemic, POTS is on the ground more than ever, providing assistance in any way possible.

Molly Mullin, FCRH ’22, is the senior service coordinator responsible for organizing the Community Clean Up Day with POTS. With the goal of “[having] our seniors be active members of the Bronx community,” Mullin and POTS staff pulled together volunteers not only from Fordham but also “from other Bronx organizations and schools.”
Mullin also said that the collaboration was “really enjoyable” and that the Senior Week Committee was “ready to help in any way [they] could.”

Mullin said the event was a smashing success; Saturday’s clean up event garnered 52 volunteers.

It was another victory for the Fordham and POTS partnership, which has boasted several successful events in the past, such as their Thanksgiving Food Drives. The university also partners with other local organizations for food drives during the holiday season, one of which is still accepting donations until Nov. 19.

Volunteering within the Bronx is easier for students with the university’s connection to organizations such as POTS, giving its students chances to demonstrate the cura personalis value that Fordham promotes heavily to its students.

POTS is always accepting new volunteers, and its staff encourages Fordham students to get involved even if they have never volunteered before. The organization is in need of skills varying from computer usage to marketing to manual labor. Because they offer such varied services, from a community kitchen to resources for New Yorkers facing eviction and immigration trouble, truly anyone is able to get involved and apply their skills at the community center.

The recent Community Clean Up project represents only a small part of the organization’s attempts to help the Bronx and its residents continue to combat and recover from the economic consequences of the pandemic.

Senior Week Committee members said they were enthused and grateful for last weekend’s collaboration and said the university remains committed to supplying aid to POTS and the Bronx community at large. Committee members said they hope to help the Bronx not only through volunteers, finances and food drives but also with the moral support necessary to continue the work that POTS employees and volunteers accomplish every day.

For more information about volunteering with POTS, students can visit the organization’s website at potsbronx.org.