[May 10 2025] Yale Day of Service in Memphis

A message from our founding Director, Dr. Aliyar Cyrus Fouladkhah:

As you all may know, am serving my beloved alma mater as a regional director of the alumni association to support Yale Clubs in TN, KY, and WV. This weekend, I had a chance to attend another Yale Day of Service (YDS) organized in our region in Memphis (Shelby County). We all got together to support a great local organization, Empower Memphis, to help them renovate their new campus by painting their rooms and installing bookshelves. I would like to commend the outstanding work of colleagues in the Yale Club of Memphis for organizing the event and appreciate the important work that faculty and staff do in Empower Memphis to expose K-8 kids to various career options and prepare them for a successful college journey. 

If you are living in the greater Memphis area and have a caring heart, please consider volunteering and supporting this great organization. A few hours of your time every month can make a huge difference, especially for institutions with a thoughtful and important mission and limited funding and resources. As we all know, the savings they obtain by improving their campus with the help of volunteers could then be used for more impactful purchases and services such as buying books and computers for the kids and improving and diversifying their educational curricula. 

Please also consider joining Yale Day of Service events anywhere in the country and in many global locations; you do not need to be a Yale Alumnus to join these global events, and you can register for YDS  as a “Yale Friend.” Below are some weblinks with more pieces of information.

Empower Memphis:

https://www.empowercareerandcollegeprep.org/

Yale Day of Service:

https://alumni.yale.edu/volunteer/service-community/yale-day-service

Yale Club of Memphis:

https://alumni.yale.edu/groups/regional-clubs/yale-club-memphis

Our program is now accredited by the International HACCP Alliance in Texas to offer HACCP certification for the meat industry. The first certification event is already scheduled for Spring 2025.

This event was organized by Dr. Aliyar Cyrus Fouladkhah director of the Public Health Microbiology Foundation who this year serves as President of Volunteer (Tennessee) section Institute of Food technologist and Regional Director (TN, WV, KY) for Yale Alumni Association.

Co-sponsored by Public Health Microbiology Foundation, joint 2025 Yale Day of Service/ Volunteer section Institute of Food technologist Day of Service was conducted on January 18, 2025. 

Collectively, 14 volunteers were able to sort and package 4,122 lbs of high-protein food and fresh produce (equivalent to 3,435 meals) for low-income families who will receive the foods this and next week by second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee.

Dr. Aliyar Cyrus Fouladkhah is serving as the president of Tennessee section of Institute of Food Technologists and Regional Director for Yale Alumni Association this year. This is a message from him about an upcoming service day event:

I would like to cordially invite you and your family to this below community service event on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025, in Nashville. Last time we had a wonderful time there and we packed over 3000 pounds of mostly high-protein foods for low-income families.

We are returning to Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee to support their important work as volunteers. After the event, we plan to go to Nashville downtown to celebrate our contributions and enjoy the wonderful music of Nashville.

You can access more information about co-sponsors of the events below:

Yale Day of Service:

https://alumni.yale.edu/volunteer/service-community/yale-day-service

Volunteer section of Institute of Food Technologists:

http://volunteer-ift.org/officers/

Public Health Microbiology Foundation:

https://publichealthmicrobiology.education/

Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee: 

https://www.secondharvestmidtn.org/