Cares Day: painting the halls of Covenant House

written by Hailey Choi
we offer good quality painting

and smiles.

As an opportunity to meet fellow students for the first time and helping the community, SHARE Cares Day was an important pre-event for Orientation Week for the Class of 2013 at New Jersey Medical School. Over 65 first-year students as well as a good handful of second-year students gathered at 10:45am on a Sunday morning to have some messy fun and make friends.

Two bus-loads of eager students took off from NJMS for Covenant House in Newark, NJ. Covenant House is a shelter for the at-risk youngsters of Newark, providing a safe home as well as social, emotional, and educational care for teenagers and young adults. Covenant House was in need of some hands to re-paint the walls of the cafeteria and to organize its supply of donated clothes.
The first-year students were able to engage in some hands-on activity and also learn about the community of Newark through an informational tour of Covenant House.

the staff at Covenant House, including Janette and Mike, with SHARE t-shirts

The gracious hands at Covenant House also fed our hungry student group a hot lunch.

more friends-making over a hot lunch

The student turn-out and response for SHARE Cares Day was bright and optimistic. The first-year students found the event's relaxed environment a nice way to reduce the anxiety of beginning medical school. Many replied, "it was a good way to meet new people". The only

downside was that there was a lot of down-time. We had over 65 student volunteers, and limited jobs. One of the projects scheduled for the day was canceled last minute. The down-time, however, may not have been such a bad thing, as it may have given the students more time for socializing. (Who knows how much time you have for socializing in medical school?)

SHARE has been organizing Cares Day for many years. We have been paining various parts of Covenant House since 2006. We find that it's a good open environment, where a large group of students can engage in one activity, which is crucial as a prelude to the start of school.
We hope that our work at Covenant House - aside from letting us have fun - would provide the youths of Newark with a cleaner, refreshed home brushed with hands that care for the community. Thanks to all those who helped, and please be on the lookout for more great SHARE activities throughout the year!

medical-student-painters after a day's hard work.

Our event was mentioned in the Star Ledger!