Providence, RI--Mix a little fun with a lot of initiative and you have a much brighter holiday season for a number of local children and teenagers.

Students in Providence College's senior Leadership Development class recently raised $1,156, which they donated to the Rudolph Tavares Community Center, located in the nearby Chad Brown Housing Development in Providence.

The money will be used to fund a Christmas party at the Tavares Center, which offers afterschool programs to youths.  It also will  help pay for field trips over the Christmas and February school breaks and athletic programs at the center.

At the beginning of the fall 2007 semester, students in the Leadership Development class taught by Dr. Catherine L. Pastille, adjunct assistant professor of management, were given the option of participating in a community-based service project or handing in a traditional term paper or in-class project. Pastille said after being introduced to the important work being done at the Tavares Center, the students jumped at the chance to hold a bowling fundraiser.

A bowl-a-thon was held recently at AMF Lang's Lanes in Cranston, RI. Prior to the event, the students obtained sponsorships and donations, sent Facebook invitations, and worked with the College's Office of Student Activities-Involvement-Leadership (S.A.I.L.)/Slavin Center to promote the fundraiser and talk about the important work the center performs every day.

The notion of helping the Tavares Center fit perfectly with the goals of Pastille's course. She said the major objective of the class is to assist students in becoming leaders, "which at its core means learning to move out of a reactive life stance to an initiating life stance."

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