Serving, thanks, and giving
When Leslie Kirwan was a Harvard undergraduate, she was thankful for her experience as a volunteer at the student-run Harvard Square Homeless Shelter. Kirwan ’79, M.P.P. ’84, who is now the dean of administration and finance for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), finds that what she did still resonates with today’s Harvard College volunteers. Students say they are thankful to her and other faculty and staff members for their support of the shelter, which is the beneficiary of FAS’ annual Giving Thanks open house. Now in its fourth year, the open house is an opportunity for the FAS community to write notes of gratitude to fellow staff members and to donate money, blankets, socks, and food items to the shelter. More than 3,000 thank-you notes — and some $1,000 in donations — are expected to come from the event, which was held Nov. 20-21. The note-writing and donation stations were...