Looking to give back? Five Yale staff share how volunteering locally brings meaning, builds connection, and starts with one simple step.
Serving our community
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Front row: Sabrina Whiteman, Donna Cropley, Kyle Schack, and Adriana Rivera; Back row: Svetlana Vassilieva (photo by Robert DeSanto)
For Yale staff looking to give back, inspiration is close to home. These five colleagues are volunteering across New Haven, driven by their passion for helping others and proving that getting started can be simpler than you think.
New Haven Reads
Photo courtesy of Sabrina Whiteman.
Sabrina Whiteman, registrar for the Department of Comparative Literature, began volunteering as a tutor while attending the City College of New York. “I fell in love with the kids and the East Harlem community. The experience was incredibly rewarding,” Whiteman said.
After graduation, she continued volunteering through a program called New York Cares, tutoring Chinese immigrants, working with individuals newly released from incarceration, and providing older adults with computer training.
In 2011, she moved to New Haven to be closer to her mother and worked for New Haven Reads before coming to Yale. Currently, she tutors second- and sixth-grade students for two hours each week through the program, focusing on reading, grammar, and comprehension.
“I keep coming back to New Haven Reads because I see firsthand how hard the students work and the many benefits of NHR’s curriculum. All those incremental hours create discipline for these kids, and the volunteers receive top-notch training,” Whiteman said.
Learn more about volunteering with New Haven Reads.
United Way – Read Across America
Photo courtesy of Donna Cropley.
Donna Cropley, program coordinator in the Office of Development, is always seeking new opportunities to volunteer. For the past 20 years, she has channeled a passion for helping others, particularly children, through several local organizations and finds deep fulfillment in brightening someone’s day.
She volunteers at the Shubert Theatre as an usher and serves in many capacities at North Branford Congregational Church. But it is her time with United Way’s Read Across America and reading to elementary school-aged children that brings her the most joy. The students choose a book, and she reads it to them in the classroom. “You’d be surprised what one hour can do, for the person you’re helping and for yourself,” she said.
She views volunteering as a positive experience and uses her paid time off to attend events.
“You’re bringing people and children joy by the simple act of reading them a book or handing them a bag of groceries. It’s knowing that you made someone’s day or week a little better that truly matters,” Cropley said.
Learn more about volunteering with the United Way and New Haven Reads.
GLOW Food Ministry
Photo courtesy of Svetlana Vassilieva.
Svetlana Vassilieva learned about GLOW Food Ministry by chance — spotting a poster advertising its need for non-perishable food donations. GLOW runs a weekly food distribution program through Compassionate Restoration Inc. (CORE) in Wallingford, Connecticut, serving more than 100 families each week.
As associate director for clinical research in the Department of Internal Medicine, she works with vulnerable populations experiencing housing instability and food insecurity. “I think my role at Yale deepened my awareness of how interconnected health, wellbeing, and basic needs like food really are,” she said. “When your research involves people facing real-life challenges, you develop a strong sense of responsibility to your broader community.”
Realizing that GLOW helped local families in need, she began volunteering by helping to pick up donations from local eateries and farms and sorting them alongside other volunteers. “I wanted to contribute in a hands-on, tangible way. The impact of my research may take years to materialize, but when I volunteer at GLOW, I see the difference immediately,”Vassilieva said.
Learn more about volunteering with GLOW Food Ministry.
BKares at Berkeley College
Photo courtesy of Adriana Rivera
Adriana Rivera’s interest in volunteering began while she was a student at Iona University. She visited areas of Manhattan and the South Bronx, distributing food and clothing to those in need, tutoring children, and renovating storm-damaged houses in New Jersey.
At the heart of her motivation is a deep personal faith; she sees volunteering not as an obligation, but as part of her DNA. A year ago, Rivera joined Berkeley College as senior administrative assistant to Head of College David Evans.
“When I came here, Professor Evans asked me how I wanted to contribute to the Berkeley community. The first thing I thought of was developing a volunteer group,” Rivera said.
In 2025, Rivera established BKares. Through BKares, she organizes monthly outings to local nonprofits and community centers for Berkeley students, and the group has grown to include other Yale students and staff members. Recently, BKares volunteered at the Community Soup Kitchen of New Haven, delivered handwritten valentines to local senior centers, and spent an afternoon at the West Haven Animal Shelter.
“I think humanity is a really beautiful thing when you meet those you are helping, get to know their stories, and bring yourself parallel to someone who needs help,” Rivera said.
Learn more about BKares:
For more information on volunteering with BKares, contact adriana.rivera@yale.edu.
United Way of Greater New Haven and Junta for Progressive Action.
Photo courtesy of Kyle Schack.
For Kyle Schack, community isn’t just something you belong to; it’s something you actively build. As associate head coach of Yale men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams, he works to instill that same spirit in the student-athletes. “We hope that the team looks at volunteering locally as an investment on the way in, and not as a thank you on the way out,” Schack said.
Schack and his wife volunteer regularly with Junta for Progressive Action, most recently helping families experiencing food insecurity. Founded in Fair Haven in 1969, Junta provides culturally responsive social services, education, and advocacy to Hispanic and immigrant communities throughout New Haven County.
He has also found that partnering with the United Way of Greater New Haven opens a variety of opportunities to connect the Yale and New Haven communities. Schack and the student-athletes have participated in local food and feminine care drives, as well as business and garden cleanups.
“These experiences are mutually rewarding because we often meet the people we are helping,” Schack said. He tells the student-athletes, “Don’t wait for the perfect time to volunteer, because it may never come. If you don’t know where to start, come with me to a food drive.”
Learn more about volunteering with United Way of Greater New Haven or Junta for Progressive Action.
