[Summary: This message invites you to take part in the FAS Dean’s Office’s holiday celebrations. The FAS Dean will make donations to local community organizations, and you are invited to vote for your favorite cause. All those who vote will be entered in a raffle for prizes including signed copies of prizewinning books by FAS faculty, and gift cards to support small businesses in our community.]
Dear colleagues and friends,
Most Decembers, our campus lights up with holiday celebrations. This year, like last year, many of those in-person celebrations may be on pause, but I hope you will join me again in a virtual celebration that gives back to our community.
Last December, we had an overwhelming positive response to FAS Dean’s Office holiday raffle and donation, and I am delighted that this year we will again give the funds ordinarily spent on the FAS Dean’s Office winter part to three local community organizations. Last year, we invited you to vote for your favorite cause, and based on your votes we distributed our donation between New Haven Reads, the Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen and IRIS: Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services. I hope you’ll consider supporting these vital organizations.
This year, we invite you to vote once again. We will divide our donation between the following organizations, based on the proportion of votes:
- The Community Soup Kitchen: serving over 75,000 meals annually across downtown New Haven.
- The Diaper Bank of Connecticut: Providing diapers and other basic health needs to families throughout Connecticut.
- Food in Service of the Homebound (FISH): delivering groceries to homebound neighbors who are experiencing food insecurity in Greater New Haven.
You can cast your vote online.
Once again, all those who vote will be entered into a holiday raffle with prizes that celebrate the creativity and ingenuity of our faculty and community. Prizes will include signed copies of prizewinning books by FAS faculty and gift cards for treats, experiences, and more from local small businesses that we are eager to support, including People Get Ready Bookstore, Pistachio Café, The Glass Jar Natural Tea, Crêpes Choupette, and many others.
Voting will close at 12:00 PM on Monday, December 20, and we will announce the holiday raffle winners soon afterwards.
With warmest holiday wishes for you and your families,
Tamar
Tamar Szabó Gendler
Dean, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Vincent J. Scully Professor of Philosophy
Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science