In 2015 a $10,000 grant from Kerry Rose Foundation founders Bob and Maryanne Fitzsimons was awarded to the Office of Commuter Student Services and Off-Campus Living. Since that time, hundreds of Stony Brook students have learned how to be safer in their residence thanks to the programs funded by that grant.

Approximately 95% of the money has been used over the past three years to increase awareness of fire safety for students living off campus.

A student practices putting out a fire.

The funds have provided programming, services and resources dedicated to off-campus fire safety awareness:

• 212 Kidde smoke/CO detectors have been made available to our students.
• More than 500 students have taken part in extinguisher/smoke-filled room demonstrations.
• A total of 600 T-shirts displaying Kerry Rose Foundation and “Know 2 Ways Out” were ordered for distribution to the campus community.
• More than 3,000 off-campus fire safety educational materials were distributed to the campus community.

“Educating our students about the importance of prioritizing their safety while living off campus is paramount to our operation,” said Emily Snyder, Associate Director of Commuter Student Services and Off-Campus Living.

The Kerry Rose Foundation was formed in memory of Bob and Maryanne Fitzsimons’ daughter, Marist student Kerry (Rose) Fitzsimons and her two college friends, who died in 2012 in an off-campus house fire.

Read more: https://news.stonybrook.edu/community-outreach/kerry-rose-grant-reaches-hundreds-of-students-in-off-campus-fire-safety-awareness/ 

On February 20, the New York Blood Center held a blood drive at the Student Activities Center in collaboration with the University.

The 189 donations received can potentially save the lives of 567 people.

The number of donations surpassed last year’s same-date effort. This event also supported enrollment of six individuals into the LiveOnNY organ donor registry.

Many efforts made this event successful including the Campus Broadcast email, a radio broadcast through WUSB, and donated vouchers with two admissions for each donor to Staller Center’s Spring Film Series.

Promotional effort through the SBU Student Blood Drive Committee in collaboration with Theta Tau Professional Co-Ed Engineering Fraternity and the Government and Community Relations Office helped to bring awareness to this event.

Read more: https://news.stonybrook.edu/oncampus/campus-blood-drive-exceeds-event-donation-goal/

Stony Brook University, in conjunction with other SUNY schools and the One Love Foundation, spent the month of April partaking in a virtual walk-a-thon dedicated to raising awareness about the issue of relationship violence among college students.

Participants logged their steps to help reach the goal of going 50 million yards and making it “Around the World for Yeardley.”

Yeardley Love was a student-athlete at the University of Virginia who tragically fell victim to domestic abuse which resulted in her death just weeks before her graduation. Her family created the One Love Foundation to educate others on the warning signs of domestic abuse and prevent similar events in the future.

SUNY schools throughout the state hosted “Around the World for Yeardley” events with the goal of going around the world for Yeardley, bringing the community together and sparking conversations that can save lives along the way.

Stony Brook faculty, staff and students contributed nearly a quarter of the SUNY total with 15,973,914 yards and more than 230 participants throughout the month!

Read more: https://news.stonybrook.edu/homespotlight/walk-to-raise-awareness-for-domestic-abuse-far-exceeds-goals/