March 28, students, faculty, staff and community members gathered in Thompson Gymnasium on Elizabethtown College’s campus for this year’s Spring Day of Service. The day of service started at 8 a.m. and lasted until 1:45 p.m. with the day divided into four, one-hour and 15-minute time slots for volunteers to participate.
Volunteers packed care packages for local homelessness agencies to give to their clients. Representatives from Bethesda Mission, Elizabethtown Community Housing Outreach Services (ECHOS), Water Street Mission and Donegal Substance Abuse Alliance were present to speak to volunteers about their organizations.
The college’s Center for Community and Civic Engagement (CCCE) organized and ran the event. Other campus offices such as the Center for Global Understanding and Peacebuilding, the School of Public Service, Student Assembly and the Social Work Department were partnered with CCCE to offer support.
The care packages included items the organization’s clients need or use the most, including soap, shampoo, toothbrushes and even drawstring bags. The gymnasium held five tables, one for each of the organizations and one for the CCCE where volunteers would make care packages to keep with them or in their cars to pass out to those in need.
During a shift, volunteers rotated between each table to make a bag for each organization while learning what the organizations do for the community. Volunteers could come for one shift, stay for multiple or the whole day.
This day of service is one of two campus wide service events that the CCCE holds. The other is Into the Streets, a fall semester event that happens every September, which takes volunteers “into the streets” to different community partners to help with any tasks the organizations may have as well as opportunities for volunteers on campus.
Both opportunities work to exemplify the college’s “Educate for Service” motto. The CCCE also holds monthly service events to keep students involved in the community and help educate for service.
