Junior Rachael Heier (left) and senior Amanda Gilbertson pick up trash along the Mississippi as part of the river clean-up. The spring day of service typically includes a river clean-up as well.
For the past three years, St. Thomas has held a day of service in the spring to get students to volunteer. This year, the effort expanded into an additional fall day of service.
The new day of service drew 182 students on Sept. 30 and was dubbed Say Hey Day, as intern organizers from the St. Thomas Volunteer Center wanted to encourage participants to meet their classmates and “say hey.”
“Having a big volunteer and service-oriented event in the first few weeks of the school year is a good chance to get first-years into the service mindset,” event organizer sophomore Andrew Spencer said.
Sophomore Andrew Spencer addresses the crowd before the groups depart to different volunteering locations. Students could choose between five different activities to participate in.
One goal of the organizers was to focus on getting first-year students involved.
“When you start, you’re looking for things to be involved in and what’s going to be your niche on campus for your time at St. Thomas,” Spencer said.
Students could choose between volunteering at Feed My Starving Children, People Serving People or Second Harvest; picking up trash for a river cleanup; or re-painting lampposts and fences by the Mississippi River.
St. Thomas students seemed to be responsive to the new options.
“Volunteering was important in my hometown, and I wanted to bring that to my college experience,” said first-year student Delaney McLoone, who packed meals at Second Harvest.
In the past, students only had one option for the spring day of service: river cleanup. The organizers wanted to branch out this year, so the new service activities focused on hunger.
“I think what’s great about the hunger focus is that we’re able to have both international and local emphasis,” Spencer said. “Feed My Starving Children ships everything they pack internationally. People Serving People and Second Harvest are local organizations, so students will be able to help people in our community and get out in the Twin Cities and have fun.”
(From left) Sophomore P.J. Cappitelli, sophomore Andrew Spencer, and freshman Sydnee Hanson give the fence along the river overlook a new coat of paint.
Event organizers Callie Jones and Spencer are new to the volunteer center, and they are hoping to grow its programming in the future.
“This year me and Andrew will have the opportunity to plan the spring day of service, so we’re looking to maybe branch out into different opportunities,” Jones said.
Solveig Rennan can be reached at renn6664@stthomas.edu.