‘Give5’ for service, advocacy

Photo by Mary Knox Merrill.

As part of the annual “Give 5 Week,” students painted a mural to be hung in Curry Student Center. Photo by Mary Knox Merrill.

The weeklong Give5 Campaign designed by the Northeastern University chapter of the National Residence Hall Honorary is encouraging students to donate five minutes, five hours or five dollars to improve the community.

“We want to encourage students to give five of whatever you can,” said NRHH president Jillian Butler, a senior communication studies major.

She said this year’s Give5 theme is advocacy, with a particular focus on making a difference with limited time or resources. As she put it, “It’s not difficult to advocate for something and make a change.”

This week’s events included a workshop on lobbying legislators for political change, a benefit concert held in afterhours and a volunteering opportunity at the Boston Hope Lodge, a home and refuge for families of children receiving medical care at local hospitals.

On Wednesday, students painted a banner in the Curry Student Center, highlighting their passion for civil rights, the environment and equal access to education.

“I’m not really an artistic person, so I wasn’t sure how this was going to turn out,” said sophomore biochemistry major Becca Vanderwall, who helped plan the banner-painting event. “It was great to see so many people take a break from what they were doing to participate and advocate for what they believed in.”

On Thursday night, NRHH is partnering with the Resident Student Association to host the Second City comedy troupe, which will perform politically inspired improv sketches in Blackman Auditorium. Tickets are $5; a portion of the proceeds will be donated to Rock the Vote.

On Friday, the group will lead a walking tour of the sustainability effort on campus, which will begin at noon in the Curry Student Center’s Macleod Suites.