The Fall Weekend of Service, hosted by the UC Davis Community Service Resource Center (CSRC), gives students an opportunity to volunteer a small amount of time to large local causes.
The CSRC, a branch of the Internship and Career Center (ICC), hosts a weekend of service every quarter for students and faculty alike to lend a helping hand in the Davis, Woodland and Sacramento areas. Those interested in getting involved can sign up on the ICC website. The Weekend of Service starts on Nov. 5 and ends on Nov. 6. Online registration for the event closes on Nov. 2.
“The students and staff of UC Davis are very good at volunteering with community service, so they need an outlet to get better involved,” said ICC program Coordinator Ken Barnes. “Students can really get into a solid project for one or two days without it affecting their studying.”
There are numerous organizations involved with the Fall Weekend of Service. Online registration gives the choice of volunteering for any event that is still in need of helpers. Some of the events have already filled beyond capacity.
Community service opportunities for the weekend range from disposing of electronics using e-waste recycling with the Albert Einstein Residence Center to arranging material for library programs at the Sacramento Public Library.
Tree Davis, a Davis organization dedicated to “enhancing the urban forest,” has worked with the CSRC Weekend of Service for every quarter since last fall. Since 1992 it has worked with over 2,000 volunteers to plant 7,000 trees in the Davis community.
“Our programs usually fill up very quickly, but this quarter we are in need of recruiting thirty more volunteers,” said Keren Costanza, executive director of Tree Davis, in an e-mail interview. “We may need to recruit from beyond the UC Davis community in order to accomplish our project.”
The CSRC hosts this quarterly affair to bring student awareness to the many other service opportunities it has to offer.
“It’s a weekend where we’re advocating philanthropy, but also letting students know that there is a community service center on campus that they can go to,” said student advisor and sophomore genetics major Amrit Sahota.
A community service database on the CSRC website allows the user to search by location, keyword and area of interest for the ideal service project. Student advisors in their office, South Hall Room 225, can also be of great help for finding that perfect way to get involved.
A volunteer can also benefit in the process of assisting another, Sahota said.
“Not everyone can always get an internship, and this is a great way to put something on your resume and get a letter of recommendation,” she said.
More information on the Fall Weekend of Service and the CSRC is available on their website, iccweb.ucdavis.edu/cs.
MAX RUSSER can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.
