Clarkson Honors Students Raise Funds for Potsdam Snack Pack at Parents Weekend Hockey Games
Clarkson University hockey fans can support local children facing food insecurity while cheering on the Golden Knights this Parents Weekend.
Clarkson Honors Program students are holding a raffle for Clarkson merchandise during the Oct. 16 and 17 hockey games against Canisius, with proceeds directly supporting the Potsdam Snack Pack Program and its work providing weekend food assistance to students in the Potsdam Central School District.
The fundraiser is part of a semester-long partnership between Clarkson Honors students and Snack Pack. Students also spend Thursdays working alongside community volunteers to assemble bags of food that are sent home with local students each Friday to help sustain them through the weekend.
“The Potsdam Snack Pack is one of the most important local organizations because of how much they contribute to helping with the food insecurity in the community, specifically with children,” said Clarkson Honors Student Sofia Renzi ’29. “I never would have imagined how prevalent the need was for food in a small town, in addition to the level of work it took to help fill this need.”
Clarkson Honors Introduction to Community Engagement is a distinctive sophomore-level course that trains students in sustained, equity-based community work. Honors has worked with 16 different local organizations across Potsdam, Waddington, Canton, and Massena, with more than 70 students per year committing to a semester-long partnership. Students learn with and from local community organizations, making Potsdam and the St. Lawrence region better together.
For Janzen Long ’29, the partnership is an opportunity to contribute to a community that has become home.
“It gives us an opportunity to contribute to a community that we didn’t grow up in, but one that Clarkson has allowed us to connect with and give back to,” Long said.
Fans attending the Clarkson hockey games Oct. 16 and 17 can support the effort by participating in the Honors students’ Clarkson swag raffle. Money raised will directly fund food bags for Potsdam students this school year.
Community members can also donate to Potsdam Snack Pack through Venmo at @potsdamsnack or the PayPal Giving Fund.
