Rutgers service groups give back to New Brunswick community for Good Deeds Day

In time for Thanksgiving, several Rutgers faith-based service groups came together on Sunday for Good Deeds Day, where they spent 3 hours doing community service work for New Brunswick's residents.

The organizations that co-sponsored the event were Rutgers Hillel, the Catholic Student Association and Ahlul Bayt Student Association.

Sam Snyder, a Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy senior, said that volunteers split into four groups that:

• Cleaned litter off the streets in New Brunswick.
• Sandwiched bags for Elijah’s Promise Soup Kitchen
• Wrote card for patients at Saint Peter’s Hospital
• Made brownies for the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting at Saint Peter’s Hospital

The event started two years ago when Snyder, then a sophomore, was the community service chair of Hillel. He said he wanted to have an event that got more student groups on campus involved. So, he reached out to his friend from his first-year residence hall, who was the community service chair for the Catholic Student Association.

Together, they formed what would be the first Good Deeds Day, he said.

In their second year, Snyder said, they reached out to Ahlul Bayt as well.

This year, all three organizations co-sponsored the event again, including volunteers from the Liberated Gospel Choir. He said this year they had 50 to 60 students come out to volunteer.

The event, taking place right before Thanksgiving, is important to him, Snyder said.

“We do it right at the start of the holiday because it is sort of the universal holiday, we can all appreciate what we have, right before Thanksgiving,” he said.