History

Hats for Humanity

SCAD SERVE’s inaugural alumni ambassador Mariana Alvarez Zubillaga (B.F.A., fashion, 2018) helped fashion students create a rain-resistant bucket hat, which profoundly impacted Atlanta’s and Savannah’s unhoused population during the sun-filled summer months. Sustainably produced from reused billboard materials, unique patterns were lovingly handmade by SCAD volunteers, resulting in more than 300 hats donated.

The trendy hats also caught the eye of SCAD alumni ambassador Mae Heidenreich (B.F.A., fashion, 2009). In her Fly capsule collection, Heidenreich included a bucket hat design of her own, bringing the sun-protecting classic to the autumn months with bold metallic prints.

Spring break food donation

In March 2021, SCAD students, faculty, and staff coordinated with Bon Appétit to prepare and distribute 500 boxes of healthy and nutritious ingredients that will feed a family of four for five days.

Nearly 50% of Georgians receive support through SNAP benefits. Food insecurity is exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Children are especially vulnerable because they rely on adults to secure their food, and many lose access to existing food programs on school breaks and during the extended summer vacation. In Savannah, 64% of children are food insecure, and 66% of Savannah-Chatham County Public School System students receive free meals through the National School Lunch Program or USDA Foods in Schools.

SCAD SERVE student volunteerism

SCAD students show leadership and character through exemplary acts of service in the communities where they live and study, averaging more than 2,000 volunteer hours annually. Through SCAD SERVE, students serve local communities while gaining valuable life skills with area nonprofits. Through SCAD SERVE community service activations, volunteers serve local communities while gaining valuable life skills with area nonprofits with focus on food, shelter, clothing, and environment. Volunteers gain leadership skills and become familiar with the challenges our communities face, and in turn, become inspired to develop creative solutions to help end suffering.

Esther F. Garrison School of Visual and Performing Art

Prior to the 2010 opening of the Esther F. Garrison School for the Visual Performing Arts, a public K-8 school, SCAD sponsored more than $500,000 in building improvements, including new Mac labs, furnishings, artworks, paint, supplies, library books, and landscaping. SCAD’s contributions included painting corridors, installing new lights and windows, loaning and hanging art by SCAD alumni and professors, stocking the library with more than 1,000 art and design books, and donating computers. The Garrison School serves a diverse population of students and families across Savannah.

The First African Baptist Church of Sapelo Island

In unity with the descendants of original congregants, SCAD completed a comprehensive architectural rehabilitation of the historic First African Baptist Church on Sapelo Island, Georgia, in 2001. The church is a cornerstone of the Gullah-Geechee communities of coastal Georgia dating to the 18th century. The university formally requested the return of the land to the church from the State of Georgia, which resulted in Georgia Governor Roy Barnes delivering the land deed to the church at the formal rededication ceremony.

The Blood Alliance

SCAD hosts quarterly blood drives with the Blood Alliance mobile donation bus on campus every quarter. The Blood Alliance is a non-profit community blood bank that provides transfusable blood products to regional hospitals. Over the past 15 years, SCAD students, faculty, and staff in Savannah have donated more than 2,668 units of blood that stay in the community.

Goodwill

In coordination with Goodwill, SCAD has offered students the opportunity to donate unwanted items at the end of the academic year. SCAD students donated more than 79,000 pounds of items in Spring 2019, keeping those items out of local landfills. In 2017, SCAD was named Goodwill's Green Partner of the Year for this ongoing program.

America’s Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia

Since 2018, students have donated non-perishable food to America’s Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia food bank during residence hall move-out at the end of spring quarter. In 2019 alone, students donated 2,989 pounds of food.

Computer donation

In September 2020, SCAD permanently gifted 160 computers — equivalent to eight classrooms — to make distance learning more accessible for K–12 students in Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools. The computers are located in local community centers and churches, which are open to students during the day and staffed by educators. SCAD is a leader in online education, and the university is proud to stand with the City of Savannah and RISE (Religious Institutions Supporting Education, a City of Savannah interfaith coalition) to innovate solutions to the challenges of distance learning for Savannah students.

Summer lunch donations

SCAD SERVE collaborated with Horizons Atlanta and Savannah Feed the Hungry to provide 2,500 meals each week for school-age children. The nutritious boxed lunches were prepared by SCAD dining services operator Bon Appétit and delivered to locations around Atlanta and Savannah during the summer break.

Additionally, SCAD students evaluated the distribution process to innovate more efficient delivery methods, examining the difference between direct delivery and temporary distribution centers. Through information gathered from this process, SCAD students devised distribution strategies applicable to regional charitable efforts and quick response teams for natural disasters. During fall quarter 2021, students in the graphic design course GDVX Ideation Models and Process adapted the collected data into engaging visual forms, including apps, infographics, and interactive Gantt charts.