As members of a student group ourselves, Pipe Dream editors have often lauded the role of extracurriculars in the collegiate experience. Every semester, it’s the GIM-ritual — go to a different group meeting per night, score some free pizza, maybe get involved.
There’s also greek life and honors societies (word to the wise: choose those carefully. Some are scams.) This time, though, we’re not going to tell you that you’re missing out if you don’t spend time doing something other than homework and drinking. Or that you have to join Pipe Dream or the paintball club or the campus climate challenge.
These days, with the economy in the shape it’s in and you as young, able and eager to help as you are, your time would be best spent in the service of others. You can work with local youth through the Johnson City Mentor Program (See Page 2), or at the Boys and Girls Club of America in Binghamton.
Charities nationwide are reporting cuts in funding and donations, an expected symptom of New York’s projected $13 billion deficit for the upcoming fiscal year. One local service reported a 42 percent jump in requests for charitable services from 2007 to 2008, according to the Press & Sun-Bulletin.
Naturally, you too may be holding on to your milk money a little longer, saving up to pay that SUNY tuition hike and all. But then, money’s not everything. You have your time to give.
In December, while most were preoccupied with plans for going home and finals, Binghamton University President Lois DeFleur canceled the University’s annual holiday reception and encouraged the community to give to charity instead, citing “current economic conditions.” It was an appropriate gesture, particularly for the holiday season.
The holidays are now, of course, long gone. The recession and people’s needs, however, are not. It would benefit all of us to stop for a moment and consider the ways in which we can give back the old-fashioned way. To cite an old adage, time is money. Give a little.