University of Idaho students have been giving up a Saturday morning for 11 years to make a difference in the Moscow community, and this year will be no different as 500 volunteers take to the streets for the 12th annual Saturday of Service.
UI students will serve their community at 30 sites this year that include Palouse Clearwater Environmental Institute, Orphan Acres, Stateline Wetlands and the Salvation Army.
The event is organized by Laura Exley and Samantha Storms, outreach and recruitment coordinators for the ASUI Center for Volunteerism.
“It really does make a big difference in the community,” Exley said. “We get a lot of positive feedback afterwards from the community members saying how thankful they are that we do that for them, and although the projects may seem small, we’re doing 30 (projects) so put together it makes a huge difference in the community.”
The deadline to sign up for the event is 5 p.m. Tuesday and the first 450 volunteers to arrive on Saturday will receive a free T-shirt.
Exley said about 200 volunteers have signed up so far, but she hopes to reach 500 by the deadline. Exley said students are welcome to show up Saturday but signing up in advance makes the placement of volunteers easier.
Exley said students do not get to choose their site assignment, but if someone would be more comfortable at a certain site or has a special need that would be taken into consideration.
“It’s hard work to place 500 volunteers, but if it’s going to make
someone’s day better to go where they want to go then I’m going to try to make that happen,” Exley said.
Students are encouraged to sign up individually or in groups.
“I’ve done it before and it’s super fun, it’s a great way to meet new people. It’s a great way to get involved in the community,” Exley said. “I think it’s just a great experience. It’s more than getting volunteer hours, it’s getting involved in the community.”
Storms said organizations eager to host UI volunteers have been contacting her since January.
“I’ve had to turn away sites this year because we’ve had such a demand because our volunteers and these events are really popular … our students really do rise to the occasion and serve the community,” Storms said. “We have a good reputation with our community partners — that’s for sure.”
Storms said there is no screening process for sites as long as a group is willing to host volunteers and the project is reasonable.
“It’s really dependent on who’s willing to host things because it is a ton of work on our end logistically, but it’s also work on their end,” Storms said. “A lot of places don’t work on Saturdays so (if) they’re willing to work on Saturday, they don’t have that big of staff and that kind of thing,”.
Saturday of Service begins at 9 a.m. Saturday and most projects will be done by 1 p.m., although Storms said students can volunteer for an all-day service project that is a new aspect of Saturday of Service this year. Storms said students should receive an email from their site leader Thursday or Friday before the event to learn more about the project they will be doing.
Students can sign up online at uidaho.edu/studentaffairs/asui.
“It’s been going on for a long time and the Moscow community really kind of depends on it. People reach out to us in January about having us serve at their site for Saturday of Service,” Exley said.
Kaitlyn Krasselt can be reached at [email protected].