With the goal of spreading gratitude and promoting a community that appreciates others—especially those who serve us—RHA and SMILE (Spreading Messages In Love and Encouragement) are partnering up to organize Give Thanks for the second year!
Give Thanks takes place during the entire month of November and encompasses many initiatives put on to appreciate and give back to those who make Tech work day in and day out.
SMILE, RHA, Hall Councils across campus, and the National Residence Hall Honorary are all spearheading their own initiatives as parts of Give Thanks! See below for more info.
Next Week: Thank You Card Writing Events 🍂
Next week (November 15 – 18), we’re hosting free thank you card writing events across campus as part of our larger Give Thanks initiative. Stop by our tables to take part, grab some Sweet Hut pastries (first come, first served), pick up some custom stickers and cards, and give back to your community. SMILE* will be gathering messages for our Midnight Rambler and Stingerette drivers!
- Monday, Nov. 15, 12:00pm – 2:00pm — Tech Green
- Tuesday, Nov. 16, 11:00am – 1:00pm — Tech Green
- Wednesday, Nov. 17, 5:30pm – 6:30pm — Folk-Caldwell Courtyard (outside of the second floor West Village entrance)
- Thursday, Nov. 18, 5:30pm – 6:30pm — Outside North Avenue Dining Hall
*SMILE will only be present on Monday and Tuesday. If it is raining or if there is other inclement weather during the above dates/times, the card writing events will be cancelled.
How Does the Event Work? 📮
It’s simple! You show up with a kind heart and the address of somebody you want to send a card to, and we provide all the supplies needed to decorate and send off a card. We’ll have brush/calligraphy pens, gel pens, adorable washi tape, decorative fall and Thanksgiving-themed stickers, postage stamps, colored envelopes, and more! When you finish writing your card, you’ll just address it and put a postage stamp on it (which we’ve already bought—there’s no cost to you to send off your letter). You can then either take it directly to a mailbox, or you can leave it with us, and we’ll take it to the Post Office for you. Note: we can send letters to both domestic AND international addresses (at no additional cost).
NRHH 💎
To Give Thanks, the National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH) is facilitating internal staff appreciation and thank you card swaps among Housing and Residence Life (HRL) staff members. NRHH will be attending an upcoming all-staff meeting with supplies for residence life professional staff to write thank you cards to fellow staff members to help encourage appreciation and recognition within the department. It’s important that Hall Directors and other residence life staff are thanked not just be the residents they serve but also the fellow staff they work with and their supervisors!
SMILE 😃
Each week in November, SMILE is highlighting a different group on campus and collecting messages of appreciation from students to deliver to those staff members.
Week 1: CARE and Stamps Health Services Staff
Week 2: CULC/Library Custodial Staff
Week 3: GT Dining Staff
Week 4: Midnight Rambler and Stingerette Drivers
Be sure to stop by our tables on November 15th and 16th on Tech Green (see above) to help us Give Thanks to Midnight Rambler and Stingerette Drivers!
Hall Councils
As a part of Give Thanks, each of our 16 Hall Councils across campus are recruiting their own residents to show gratitude to a variety of groups including GTPD, CRC staff, residence hall custodial staff, RAs, bus drivers, and more! To learn more about what your community is doing for Give Thanks and how you can get involved in your Hall Council’s Give Thanks initiative, be sure to check your emails for messages from Hall Council and attend your weekly Hall Council meetings.
You can keep up with Give Thanks on SMILE’s Instagram (@smile.gatech), RHA’s Instagram (@rhagt), and in your inbox! Be sure to look out for—and get involved in—Give Thanks initiatives going on in your pocket of campus!