10th Annual Helping Hawks Volunteer Day Goes Virtual

Giving Back to the Hartford Community

During these uncertain times, the Office of student engagement and Inclusion, Alumni Engagement, and SGA are taking the 10th annual Helping Hawks Day Online this year for the first time in the event’s history.

Helping Hawks is a yearly tradition where members of the University of Hartford community spend a day helping to give back to the community. This can be done by volunteering at different places in the Hartford area. The tradition started back in 2010 and has grown ever since.

This year, the office of Student Engagement and Inclusion has shared several ideas of things that volunteers can do this year to help their community. Many of these can be done from home or while social distancing. These include,

  • Running errands for elderly or immunocompromised neighbors
  • Organizing a “bear hunt” in your neighborhood- everyone puts a teddy bear in a window at the front of their homes for neighborhood kids to find on walks
  • Finding creative ways to thank essential employees for all they are doing to keep our communities fed, safe, clean, and healthy
  • Writing cards to people in nursing homes who can’t have visitors
  • Leading a game of social distance Simon Says for the neighborhood kids
  • Sewing fabric masks for local healthcare professionals.

The office of Student engagement and inclusion asks that students share their acts of kindness on social media using the hashtag #UhartHelpingHawks. You can also email photos and videos to .