{"193441":{"#nid":"193441","#data":{"type":"news","title":"COE Cares Builds Community in Engineering","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWouldn\u2019t it be nice to get to know your co-workers better \u2014 and do a little good at the same time?\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis was the thought that Dimetra Diggs-Butler had in mind when she approached Lynda House, director of human resources for the College of Engineering (COE), with her idea to start COE Cares. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI kept thinking about all of the volunteer opportunities available to us as at Tech and how so many people aren\u2019t aware of them,\u201d said Diggs-Butler, academic program coordinator in the School of Mechanical Engineering. \u201cI thought that a program like COE Cares would help educate people about these opportunities and would also provide a chance to get to know colleagues.\u201d \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELast year, the COE Cares initiative launched, complete with a monthly e-newsletter and monthly service project that all members of the COE community are invited to participate in. In addition to promoting community and service, the initiative also aims to educate faculty and staff about health and wellness topics. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe COE Cares committee, which meets monthly, is made up of a representative from each of the college\u2019s schools and two representatives from the dean\u2019s office. Each member is responsible for picking a theme for one or two months during the year and organizing an activity around it. (This approach ensures the time commitment for each member isn\u2019t overwhelming. Diggs-Butler estimates that she spent about five hours in total planning for her activity.) Projects are funded with money from the dean\u2019s office budget as well as donations from the committee. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOne of the events last year was a lunch party where we invited people to stop in for pizza and write a card to a soldier in Afghanistan,\u201d Diggs-Butler said. \u201cWe were so pleased to be able to send 400 cards to soldiers.\u201d \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnother month, the theme was cold and flu prevention. The committee members created cold and flu prevention kits to distribute throughout the college, which included hand sanitizer and Chef Larry\u2019s (of GT Dining Services) chicken soup. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI\u2019m just so excited that COE Cares has taken off,\u201d Diggs-Butler said. \u201cIt\u2019s such an easy way to help build a sense of community among faculty and staff members. Hopefully, other units will want to create similar initiatives so that employees across Tech will have easy access to these types of opportunities.\u201d \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EQuestions? Contact \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:coe-cares@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ecoe-cares@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWouldn\u2019t it be nice to get to know your co-workers better \u2014 and do a little good at the same time?\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Wouldn\u2019t it be nice to get to know your co-workers better \u2014 and do a little good at the same time?"}],"uid":"27445","created_gmt":"2013-02-19 14:16:56","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:13:40","author":"Amelia Pavlik","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2013-02-18T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2013-02-18T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"193361":{"id":"193361","type":"image","title":"Cold and flu prevention kit","body":null,"created":"1449179879","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:57:59","changed":"1475894843","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:47:23","alt":"Cold and flu prevention kit","file":{"fid":"196349","name":"cold_kit.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/cold_kit_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/cold_kit_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":5105004,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/cold_kit_0.jpg?itok=M2I9jCJY"}}},"media_ids":["193361"],"groups":[{"id":"1259","name":"Whistle"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"58941","name":"COE Cares"},{"id":"594","name":"college of engineering"},{"id":"2624","name":"community service"},{"id":"58951","name":"Dimetra Diggs-Butler"},{"id":"398","name":"health"},{"id":"4076","name":"wellness"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:amelia.pavlik@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAmelia Pavlik\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EInstitute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}