The second Caring Community Celebration, held April 26 in the Memorial Room at Willard Straight Hall, attracted about 400 members of the Cornell community to play in sand, pet a dog or have a bite to eat, all intended to bring students together to promote mental and physical health and to relieve stress.

Cornell Minds Matter brought brain stress balls and information about their mental health programs. The Student Assembly and the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly offered Play-Doh activities; the class councils offered sand art activities, root beer floats and class sunglasses. Subs were provided by the Student Union Board. Other groups participating included SlopeFest, Cornell Ceramic Studio, Women's Resource Center, the Cornell Women's Health Alliance, the Guiding Eyes for the Blind (with two guide dogs), Multifaith Ambassadors, and Empathy, Assistance and Referral Services (EARS).

Chairing the event were Jennifer Kay '14, Mohit Gulrajani '12, Annabel Fowler '12, Shayra Kamal '13 and graduate student Jennifer Swartz, with help from David Bell, adviser for the class councils.

"We were excited to bring student groups that promote mental and physical health initiatives together in a festive atmosphere," said Kay. "By providing information about student health groups at a fun event, we aimed to materialize President Skorton's efforts to foster a caring community and demonstrate Cornell's supportive student infrastructure.

The event was sponsored by the Student Assembly, class councils and the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly in partnership with the Cornell Undergraduate Health Cooperative's Interactive Health Fair.

The first caring community celebration, created by Natalie Raps '12, was held last November.