Cancelled: #RedbirdImpact Alumni Weekend has been cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The Office of Alumni Engagement is gathering and will be sharing photographs of alumni being civically engaged at home during #RedbirdImpact Month.
Illinois State University’s Alumni Association will hold its second annual #RedbirdImpact Month in June. To align with the value of civic engagement, the association’s Redbird Engagement and Development (RED) Committee and the University’s Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning are encouraging Redbirds to come together to show what it means to make a #RedbirdImpact.
Although on-campus events have been cancelled, alumni and friends can still find ways throughout the month of June to show how they make a #RedbirdImpact from creating cards to send to nursing homes to supplying lunches to local health care facilities and organizations.
Alumna Emily Vermeire paints in a hallway of the Habitat for Humanity home where Illinois State alumni volunteered their time June 22, 2019, as part of #RedbirdImpact Alumni Weekend.
About 30 Redbirds returned to campus last June for the inaugural #RedbirdImpact Alumni Weekend. Over the course of the weekend, the alumni volunteered at the Habitat for Humanity home and ReStore, and completed a service project at the Illinois State University Horticulture Center. In between those activities, the Redbirds were invited to a dinner and a social outing.
Also, throughout June, alumni networks across the country will be encouraged to find a service project for area alumni and share the #RedbirdImpact made. Last year, these efforts included the Peoria Area Alumni Network volunteering with a local church’s Loaves and Fishes program, the Latinx Alumni Network collecting clothing donations, and members of the Chicago Suburban Alumni Network volunteering at the Northern Illinois Food Bank.
The goal of these #RedbirdImpact activities is to provide leadership and direction for alumni to continue the lifelong responsibility of being informed and engaged global citizens through meaningful opportunities.
“Alumni that participated in last year’s weekend saw firsthand the impact Redbirds can make together and leave on a community,” said Stephanie Duquenne, director for Alumni Engagement. “This is also true for our alumni networks that participated across the country. When Redbirds give their time back, they are showing their communities that even after graduation, Illinois State’s values hold a place
in their lives.”
For more information about #RedbirdImpact Month or the Alumni Weekend, contact the Office of Alumni Engagement at Alumni@IllinoisState.edu or (309) 438-2586.
