Save The Date: Skidmore Community Holiday Open House

December 13, 2009

To the faculty and staff:

Phil and I will be extending a personal invitation to you and all members of the Skidmore faculty and staff and their families to join us at Scribner House for the seventh annual Holiday Open House on December 13 from 1:30 to 6:30 p.m.

I am writing in advance to let you know that the Open House will again be an opportunity for us to share time together and to give back to our community. We invite you to participate in Skidmore Cares, a program through which we can all lend a helping hand to others. Skidmore Cares was created to give more meaning to our gathering as a campus community by collecting food to be distributed to local agencies.

We encourage you to bring your family to the Open House and to share in the spirit of giving associated with the holiday season. As usual, there will be activities for children in the carriage house, including the ever-popular cookie decorating.

I hope that you and your family will join us at Scribner House on December 13 to participate in Skidmore Cares and to share good fellowship with our Skidmore family.

Best regards,

Marie Glotzbach

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Skidmore marks holidays with contributions to the community

As the holidays approach and the fall semester wraps up at Skidmore College, the flurry of activity on campus includes a concerted effort by students, faculty and staff to help those in need in the surrounding communities.

The lead program in this effort is Skidmore Cares, a campuswide endeavor that has collected and delivered 900 food items, more than $800 and a wide array of school supplies at a time when many local families are feeling the economic pinch.   

The three beneficiaries of the Skidmore Cares food drive are the Saratoga County Economic Opportunity Council (EOC), Franklin Community Center and Salvation Army. Cash donations, largely from Skidmore students, have been given to Mary’s Haven, a local Hospice home. School supplies have been delivered to the Corinth School District and to the EOC’s Latino Community Advocacy Program, for instruction in English as a second language.

Skidmore Cares was launched in 2006 by Skidmore President Philip A. Glotzbach and his wife, Marie, to enhance the meaning of the annual campus holiday gathering at Scribner House, the president’s home. Faculty, staff and their families dropped off their donations in a sleigh on the front yard when they attended the open house on Sunday, December 13. For those unable to attend the event, the sleigh was available for “drive-by” donations over the weekend.

“Skidmore Cares builds on the heritage of being a good neighbor and encourages participation in a program that will result in a collective Skidmore contribution to the greater Saratoga Springs region,” said Marie Glotzbach, who spearheads the effort. “The program enhances the meaningfulness of the spirit of the season at our annual college gathering. It is especially important to us to give back to our community during these tough economic times.”

Skidmore Cares organizers contacted the food banks in advance, asking for a list of items considered crucial to their operations, and the drive targeted those areas. Groupings of employees and students, each headed by campus representatives, or “cheerleaders,” were assigned specific items and goals.

The student component of the program, organized by the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, focused on raising cash.

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Other Skidmore endeavors extend community outreach

This holiday season, individuals and organizations within the Skidmore community are making many other contributions to the community. Below is a sampling.

• Benef-Action, the student community-service organization, has “adopted” 10 local teens through the Empty Stockings Program, providing them with gift cards totaling $1,100.
• Using rowing machines in the college’s Sports and Recreation Center, the school’s Rowing Club held a “row-a-thon” that raised $1,500 for Habitat for Humanity.
• Skidmore students and employees contributed some $9,000 to the Saratoga County Economic Opportunity Council Thanksgiving meal program. Skidmore trustee and alumnus Steve Sullivan, owner of the Olde Bryan Inn and Longfellows, and his staff volunteered their time and resources to provide 200 Thanksgiving meals at the EOC soup kitchen and to deliver 400 hot dinners to those unable to leave home.
• Joanne Dugan of Skidmore’s Dining Services is leading an effort to collect children’s holiday gifts, food and money for local families. She is doing so in honor of Mary Bradley, a colleague who recently passed away.

Food Assignments and Representatives