USM students fanned out in the greater Portland area last Friday to lend a helping hand to local charitable organizations for USM’s first annual university-wide Day of Service.
At 9:30 a.m. on Friday morning, Chris O’Connor, assistant dean of student life, turned down the energetic music and shouted “Good Morning USM!” A crowd of blue-shirted USM students cheered in response. Large carafes of coffee stood next to a small mountain of bagels as over 115 students joined took part in the Day of Service.
President Selma Botman kicked off the event. “Some people say that yours is the ‘me’ generation and that you’re very self-centered but this proves them wrong,” said Botman. USM Vice-President Craig Hutchinson also congratulated students for offering a day of service to their community. “If you have any questions see someone with a blue shirt,” joked Hutchinson to the sea of blue-shirted volunteers.
For Laurilyn Tardif, a freshman psychology major and Kate McKenna, an undeclared freshman, this was their first experience of community service at USM. They had found out about the event just the day before and decided to offer their support to the greater Portland community. “I like working with little kids so I signed up to work with the kindergartners. Volunteering also looks good on resumes,” said Tardif.
“I’m surprised at how many people showed even though it was raining. I think more people would’ve showed up if they knew about it,” said McKenna who soon ran to get on the bus taking her to their volunteering site at a local school.
Brittany McGarry, an Americorps Vista worker at USM, helped organize the event and said she was pleased by the turn out. “There are over 150 people registered and I think they’ll want to do more after today. The college experience is really a community event; get involved and make sure that you are engaged in the campus and your community,” said McGarry.
Sandra Goff, a first year Master’s of Community Planning and Development student helped organize the event and hoped they’ll happen more often in the future. “It would be really great if we can have one [day of service] per semester,” said Goff.
McGarry said Chris O’Connor had the idea for a USM Day of Service and a committee soon formed to help organize the event. “The biggest challenge was coordinating the logistics for transportation and figuring out community service projects over one month in advance,” said McGarry. Everything went smoothly Friday morning as students filed out of the Woodbury Campus Center and to one of over 10 different community service projects.
Some volunteers traveled on a bus to Steep Falls to lend a hand at Rippling Waters Organic Farm, a non-profit that donates healthy vegetables to food pantries and educates local school children about organic agriculture. At Rippling Waters, students helped prepare the fields for planting and aided in building a bunk house that will host farm interns and apprentices.
Other students helped the Preble Street Resource Center clean and organize, lent a hand at the Ronald McDonald House and volunteered to help kids in local Portland schools.
A group of six members of the USM community traveled to Cumberland to help the Wayside Food Pantry prepare a community garden for planting pole beans. The students labored in both drizzle and rain. “It’s like digging in the shower,” said Julia Workman, a junior psychology major. “I’ve never really done any sort of volunteer work before so I wanted to just try it out and see how I can help,” she said.
Ryan Almy, a senior business administration major, said he was glad the weather was cool so that he didn’t overheat. “This is my first go around volunteering. I definitely plan on doing more though,” said Almy.
The Wayside volunteers gathered for lunch in the only dry space available; a small tool shed, and sat on overturned plastic containers to eat some of the 150 bag lunches that Aramark donated to the event. “I’m really interested in urban gardening, so the Wayside project kinda chose me. We have a green house on the Gorham campus that produces food for the dining services. This [Wayside community garden] is a model for bringing local food closer,” said Tyler Kidder, the USM Sustainability Coordinator for Dining Services.
Eric Davis, a second year master’s in public policy and management student was no newcomer to volunteering, “I used to be in Americorps which is based around community service, and it’s something I wanted to keep on doing here. It’s a good way to get outside and see more of the area and meet new people,” said Davis.
Any students interested in volunteering in the community can contact organizer Brittany McGarry at [email protected] or get in touch with the USM office of Community Engagement at http://usm.maine.edu/studentlife/community/main/.