Helping out your community is not just something retired citizens do when they don't have anything else to occupy their time with. As a college student, you COULD and SHOULD do your part to help others in need whenever you can. It's normal to feel like there's not enough time in the day, or that you just can't see yourself giving up precious sleep time to serve food at a soup kitchen; however, it is possible to be enthused about community service and be a college student. Just remember, it's not only good for your soul, but it can really make a difference in people's lives around you.
What is community service?
Community service is when an individual donates his or her time and energy towards something and doesn't get paid for it. Unpaid internships, cleaning up trash on the side of the highway to cancel out that disorderly conduct you received at your sorority date party, and community work you have to do to get bonus for a class unfortunately does not constitute as community service. However, there are always opportunities for community service available and being a college student there are even more.
What to do?
Community service can range anywhere from helping serve food at the local soup kitchen in your college town, or donating used clothes to the Salvation Army. If you're worried about traveling off campus, there are also numerous groups and organizations unique to every university that could always use your help. Recently at Bowling Green State University, the Student Health Services teamed up with the Red Cross and hosted a week-long, campus-wide blood drive. There were numerous community service opportunities within this singe event including donating blood, helping with advertising efforts and assisting at the actual blood drive. Freshman Kim Zaccaro was not hesitant when she heard she could help out for an organization like the Red Cross. "I've been donating blood ever since high school and it's such an easy way to make a difference. One pint can literally save three people from dying," Zacarro said. Not only did she donate blood, but she also helped creating flyers for the event and signing people in during the week the drive was taking place. "It made me feel good to know that I was helping others, and it was easy to do," Zacarro said.
Shirley Woessner, head of the Bowling Green Food Pantry, is also not a stranger to helping others. Woessner has been in charge of the pantry since 2005 and coordinates activities such as keeping the pantry stocked, handing out food to patrons, and bell ringing during the Christmas season to raise money. "It's amazing to me to see how many people are willing to donate their time to help others," Woessner said. "I was nervous to take on such a big position after retirement, but it's proved to be so rewarding and with so much help from the community, definitely a manageable thing." Woessner also said she's always looking for extra help during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons, and looks especially to university students for bell ringing since it requires you to stand outside for a long period of time. "The old people I have helping me just can't handle the cold," Woessner laughs.
Helping can sometimes hit home
A lot of people find community service as a good way to release stress or anxiety about something that was wrongfully done to them in the past. Caleigh Craft, a BGSU senior, helped clean up a ransacked neighborhood park this past summer. "When I heard what happened with the park, I immediately wanted to help clean it up because someone did the same thing to my neighborhood park when I was a kid and I remember how upset I was. Being able to help make it better for the kids in that neighborhood so they didn't have to feel how I felt made me feel really good," Craft said.
Service on your watch
Remember, just because a blood drive lasts an entire week or they need help at the food pantry everyday until Christmas, doesn't mean you have to feel bad if you can't volunteer everyday. Be realistic with your time commitments so your organizations can count on you to show up when you say you're going to. There's nothing worse than talking a big community service game, but not going through with it.
Posted By: Kayla Molczan
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