Syracuse University

Friday, March 24, is National Orange Day. Syracuse University students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends are asked to show their orange pride by wearing their best orange threads -- a flashy tie, a sweater or a colorful T-shirt, for example.

National Orange Day is a tradition to commemorate the founding of Syracuse University, March 24, 1870. This is SU's 136th year.

On campus, the festivities begin at 12:30 p.m. when the Crouse chimes will ring out the alma mater and the fight song. Members of the University community will gather in the atrium of the Hildegarde and J. Myer Schine Student Center, where Chancellor Nancy Cantor will carve the first slice of SU's birthday cake, one of six sheet cakes donated by the SU Bake Shop. The celebration in Schine will also include a visit by Otto the Orange. Radio station Z89 (WJPZ-FM) will play music and provide giveaways.

This year's National Orange Day will be highlighted by two special events. March 24 will mark the culmination of Orange Around the World, a new University-wide initiative sponsoring Syracuse-themed care packages prepared by faculty, staff and students to be sent to alumni serving in the military worldwide. The care packages will be presented at the ceremony in the Schine Center. Also, a member of the Syracuse University Alumni Association Board of Directors will present the "Jesse Peck Diaries," a collection of journal entries detailing the original idea to found SU, to the SU Archives & Records Management Program. Bishop Jesse Truesdell Peck was a Methodist bishop, former chair of SU's board of trustees and the individual who made the first substantial financial donation to establish Syracuse University in 1870.

The Tennity Ice Skating Pavilion will offer free skate rentals to everyone wearing orange. The SU Bookstore will offer a 25 percent discount to anyone wearing a sticky orange. The Goldstein Alumni and Faculty Center will feature delicious orange cuisine on the day's menu, and Rachel's Restaurant in the Sheraton Syracuse University Hotel & Conference Center will have a National Orange Day lunch promotion. Later that evening, the Carrier Dome and the National Grid building downtown will glow with luminous orange lights.

SU alumni clubs in record numbers are participating in community service events around the country. SU club members will proudly wear orange as they work in the following activities:

• The Northern New Jersey Club will work with Hats for Hope 4 Kids to collect hats and raise money to provide hats for children with pediatric illnesses.
  
• The Alumni Club of the Capital District will prepare and serve meals for the homeless at the Overflow Shelter in Albany, N.Y. Members will also volunteer at the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York.
  
• The Central New York Club will donate a $500 check to the Edward Smith Elementary School in Syracuse to be used for a school field trip to Washington, D.C.
  
• The Alumni Club of Northwestern Pennsylvania will provide activities in support of the Kids Cafe of the Emmaus Ministries of Erie as well as an additional community outreach activity.
  
• The Alumni Club of the District of Columbia will sponsor a club summer scholarship, as well as participate in a community service project.
  
• The Alumni Club of Rochester will sponsor a wine tasting/judging/auction benefiting Camp Good Days & Special Times.
  
• The Alumni Club of Indianapolis will build mini-barns in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity.
  
• The Alumni Club of Arizona will serve meals to the homeless at St Vincent De Paul in Phoenix.
  
• The Alumni Club of Seattle will host a basketball-watching party where they will collect non-perishables.
  

Contact information for alumni clubs is located on the Alumni Office website
at http://alumni.syr.edu/regional.html.