About SBU

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — Two St. Bonaventure University graduates have returned to their alma mater as coordinators of programs in the university’s Center for Community Engagement.

Jamie Ryder, a 2005 graduate, is the new coordinator of the Warming House, a student-run soup kitchen in the city of Olean, while Nicholas Goodell, a 2010 graduate, has assumed leadership of the Bona Buddies youth mentoring program.

Ryder, a sociology major who minored in social work, is back on familiar ground. As a student, she was involved with the Warming House during all four years of her academic career and worked in every aspect of its operation, from planning and preparing meals to training volunteers.

Ryder served a 10-week summer internship at the Warming House and was an administrative assistant her senior year. In that role, she helped maintain the budget and manage other administrative duties, oversaw coordinators, scheduled volunteers, and supervised other operations.

After graduating in 2005, Ryder spent two years with Franciscan Volunteer Ministry in Philadelphia, Pa., where she helped supervise operations of a soup kitchen that served more than 400 people daily. Since August of 2007, she has been a team member with St. Francis Inn Ministries in Philadelphia, which provides a soup kitchen, a thrift store, a social services center and a women’s shelter for the city’s poor and homeless.

“I am truly blessed to have the opportunity to come back to Bonaventure,” said Ryder. “It is like coming home after a long trip.”

Ryder replaces Trevor Thompson, who left the Warming House for an administrative position with a parish in Raleigh, N.C.

Goodell, who graduated in May with a degree in Sport Studies, returns to SBU as coordinator of Bona Buddies, a program that matches student volunteers with local children who need the friendship, attention and influence of an older person in their lives.

Goodell has been involved in mentoring since he was a high school student in Central Square, N.Y., where he helped coordinate a Big Brothers Big Sisters program. He returns each year to give motivational talks to students with learning disabilities, encouraging them to stay in school and go to college.

He has been a summer camp counselor, a Special Olympics coordinator and coach, and served as a volunteer at an alternative high school in Salamanca, where he created and delivered recreational and physical education programming for students.

Goodell said he is excited about returning to SBU. “As a St. Bonaventure student, I was taught to never give up and always follow your dreams,” he said. “Now it’s my turn to help children in the community see that they can be successful and that no dream is too big.”

He replaces Della Moore, an AmeriCorps/VISTA employee whose contract ended and was not renewable.

Larry Sorokes, associate vice president for Franciscan Mission and director of the Center for Community Engagement at St. Bonaventure, said the university welcomes the return of Goodell and Ryder.

“We could not ask for two more enthusiastic people to be leading our programs, and I know we will enjoy having them in the Bonaventure family,” said Sorokes.