By Jeff Swoboda
As part of a plan to polish Northeastern’s tarnished relations with the surrounding community, the Center for Community Service (CCS) held the 10th annual NU Service Day Saturday.
About 250 students gathered in the morning to do volunteer work throughout Boston. The students met at Krentzman Quad, then split off into smaller task groups to perform a variety of community service.
Two large groups went to pick up trash, one in Fenway and another in lower Roxbury. Another group helped staff the Ollie Road Race in South Boston. One group helped out at the Boston Living Center, which provides leadership opportunities and support to people who are HIV-positive, while another entertained the residents of Morville House, a retirement home near Smith Hall.
At Morville House, students chatted with residents in a large gathering room. There were playing cards, donuts and a white board with a game of hangman on it. Residents laughed with the volunteers and received help with daily errands.
Megan Lewis, a middler biology major and service chair for the Newman Club, Northeastern’s Catholic service organization, noticed a group going to Morville House and signed herself up along with other students in Newman Club.
“I got an e-mail about NU Service Day and I thought it would be a good opportunity for our group to get involved,” Lewis said. “I’ve been to Morville House several times in the past. The Newman Club has kind of a relationship with Morville House. We come here to play bingo and stuff like that.”
Rachel White, a sophomore exercise physiology major and CCS volunteer, said she was impressed with the student turnout. In between playing hangman and swapping stories, White expressed concern there wasn’t enough work for all the volunteers.
“There were so many volunteers that they started looking for more sites. A lot of sites are filling up, so I hope the next Service Day has more opportunities for volunteers,” White said.
Aside from a few minor mix-ups with bus pick-up times, participants said the Service Day was a success.
“I think it went wonderfully. I was so happy so many people turned out. We stopped at a few sites, and everywhere we went the community partners were extraordinarily happy with the work,” said Zandra Kambysellis, assistant director of the CCS. “It was definitely the best Service Day that I’ve seen.”
Every organization was extraordinarily pleased with the work done by the volunteers, and students were pleased with the organization of the event as well. As Kambysellis flipped through a stack of student evaluations, she said there was nothing but positive reviews.
“Just looking at the first stack the students seemed happy with the event,” Kambysellis said.
Many students have asked to continue working with the CCS or to volunteer more often with the community partner they helped on Service Day. Kambysellis suggested working through the CCS to find volunteer opportunities near Northeastern.
“I would just encourage students to see Service Day as a gateway. If somebody was expressing an interest in volunteering we wouldn’t want to turn them away,” she said.
The service day gave students the chance to learn about a new neighborhood or even about the neighborhood they live in, Kambysellis said.
“We got students saying, ‘Oh, I wondered what went on in that building, and now I know,'” Kambysellis said. “These students are getting to know their neighbors that they wouldn’t have met without Service Day.”
