Newswise — Volunteerism among college students has increased by 20 percent since 2002, perhaps heralding America's first glimpse of a new civic-minded generation.
The "College Students Helping America" report " one of the most comprehensive federal studies ever conducted of college student volunteering in the United States " found that college student volunteering in 2002 and 2005, more than doubled the growth in the adult volunteering rate. It found that 3.3 million college students volunteered in 2005 " nearly 600,000 more students than three years ago -- building strong momentum toward a national goal of five million college student volunteers by 2010. The study was released by the federal Corporation for National and Community Service in October 2006.
Students at the University of Kentucky have joined this trend with energy and efficiency.
Last spring, after a year of fundraising that culminated in a 24-hour, no-sitting, no-sleeping dance marathon, more than 465 UK students celebrated " with tears and cheers " the last few minutes of DanceBlue 2007. They collected $241,514, nearly double last year's total, for the Pediatric Oncology Clinic at the UK Albert B. Chandler Hospital. The funds provide families who have a child with cancer with emotional support and financial aid, support pediatric cancer research at UK, and enable improvements to the facilities and services for pediatric cancer patients. But it's not all about the money. In addition to fundraising, 16 student organizations are involved with the Adopt-A-Family program, which pairs students with the families of pediatric cancer patients. Students provide emotional support for the families and organize fun activities for the patients and siblings.
This fall marks the fifth year that UK student-volunteers will leave campus to participate in one of the state's largest community service projects, UK FUSION (UK For Unity and Service in Our Neighborhoods). In a single August afternoon, two days before the first class of the fall semester, UK students will give nearly 4,000 hours of community service to social service agencies in Lexington, Ky. About 1,000 students will travel to more than 55 project sites, where they will work from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Agencies participating in UK FUSION range from nursing homes and law offices to nature sanctuaries and homeless shelters. Students, faculty and staff will paint walls, stuff envelopes, pull weeds, mulch trees, till gardens, clean windows, build walking trails, mow yards, and organize storage areas.
DanceBlue and FUSION are only two of the programs offered by the UK Center for Community Outreach. Founded in August 2002 as the UK Student Volunteer Center, the Center for Community Outreach is a student-driven program intended to develop young civic leaders. Its mission is to serve, connect, and unite the University of Kentucky with the surrounding community in collaborative efforts to promote life-long community service.
Last year, 2,430 UK students donated more than 17,300 hours to community service projects.
"Every fall, we invite non-profit agencies to campus so that our students can see the full range of civic volunteerism available to them," said Laura Hatfield, assistant director of Student Involvement and adviser to the Center for Community Outreach. "We want to graduate not only good engineers, good poets, good physicians, and good educators at the University of Kentucky. We want to send good people into the world, young people who will make a difference for all of us."
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