This week, we are honoring a man who made such a huge impact on the TCNJ campus and deserves to be recognized for the amazing work he has accomplished.
To those who do not know, Pat Donohue was the director of the Bonner Institute and Center for Community Engaged Learning and Research at TCNJ and an assistant provost. During Pat’s nine years at TCNJ he grew the Community Engaged Learning program tremendously and helped expand the Bonner Institute. The Bonner Institute now supports approximately 100 Bonner Scholars with a scholarship program which gives students the opportunity to serve the community through their individual commitment of 300 service hours per year.
When there was a problem that seemed unsolvable, a person who was viewed as a lost cause, or an area that was thought of as being helpless…Pat stepped up and took on the challenge. There was no such thing as something not being worth it to him. When most people looked at the city of Trenton with fear or disgust, he had nothing but love for the city and all of the people living in it. He fell so deeply in love with the area that he moved his family to Trenton just last year.
Pat tragically passed away this summer, and although he is no longer with us I believe he deserves to be recognized as a Campus Celebrity. Pat is a hero, and anyone who was fortunate to work with him, hear him speak, or even briefly meet him would attest to that.
This past weekend, TCNJ held a Day of Service in honor of Pat. Overall there were about three hundred people in attendance including TCNJ students, faculty, alumni, and members of the Donohue Family. Service completed included helping with beautification projects, working with children, supporting a cancer awareness walk, organizing donations in a food pantry, and more. This day was meant to share with all in attendance Pat’s vision, and show them why he loved his work and those he served unconditionally.
There is an online tribute to Pat, where people were invited to share memories of him and explain how he impacted their lives. On this site, one of Pat’s close friends, Wayne, wrote 12 blessings which included:
“Blessings to Pat’s students past and current, you are the gallery of his life’s work, the evidence of his gifts of inquiry, discovery and joyBlessings to Pat’s colleagues, the people he worked with but more than that, the people he loved, you are the ones that Pat sought out, that sparked his invention and built the things that only Pat could imagineBlessing to the city of Trenton, the place Pat called home, where others saw barren land, Pat saw Gardens, where others saw fear, Pat saw possibility, where others saw nothing, Pat saw hope”
We, as TCNJ lions, are all Pat’s students. Even if you have not worked directly with him, you have participated (or will eventually participate) in the service that he was passionate about. Through the CEL day requirement (an 8-hour day of service) you are helping carry out his mission. He believed that community engagement was at the foundation of democracy, and the service was an opportunity. He wanted everyone to be involved in their community, be exposed to service, and have the opportunity to help others. This is what will continue to happen as a legacy that he left behind.
His legacy is in all of us: the community of TCNJ, Trenton, the Bonner Institute, and all the countless organizations and people he worked with and spoke to.
To close, an excerpt from the eulogy Jim Donohue (Pat’s brother) gave at Pat’s funeral this summer:
“In my mind, Pat couldn’t have died to teach us a lesson because no lesson could ever equal the good Pat would have accomplished with the rest of his life. At the same time, I refuse to believe, I absolutely refuse to believe that Pat has died in vain. So I’m going to ask you a favor. I’m going to ask you to take a solemn vow, right now in this church. I’m asking you to tell someone, today, before the sun sets, that if you are ever in so much pain that you feel you might do harm to yourself, you will tell that person, that you will make one simple phone call and say “I don’t trust myself right now.” I would like to ask you to raise your hand if you promise you’ll do that today.”
To read more about Pat’s impact, check out the tribute to him here: http://www.bonner.org/a-tribute-to-pat/
Sources:
http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2015/07/patrick_donohue_former_tcnj_p…
http://www.bonner.org/eulogy-for-pat/
“Not only can you change the world, you must change the world” –Pat Donohue