New students pitch in for inaugural service day

Though most freshmen have only been in Bloomington for a few days, many have already pitched in to make their new home a better place. Welcome Week's first-ever New Student Service Day drew 228 participants volunteering at 22 different charities across Bloomington Saturday morning. \nMany people in several departments had talked about getting new students involved in some kind of community service project, said Emily McCallister, assistant director of the program. This year, it was introduced as part of Welcome Week. \n"The whole purpose of Welcome Week is to meet people, places and resources," McCallister said. "Traditionally most events are centered around campus, but now freshmen can realize what a great relationship Bloomington and IU have."\nStudents took the initiative to sign up for the program, McCallister said. Once signed up, they could take their pick of 22 different charities, including on-campus organizations like the La Casa Latino Culture Center and several community groups, such as Girls Incorporated, United Way of Monroe County and the YMCA.\n"Someone who is a nursing major went to volunteer at a nursing home," McCallister said. "It was something she enjoyed, and before classes even started she already had something she could put on her resume." \nEmployers like to see community service on students' resumes, said Bre Fox, community relations director at SouthernCare Hospice, one of the locations where students could volunteer. Though it is a for-profit enterprise, SouthernCare Hospice is required by Medicaid to match 5 percent of its patient care hours with volunteer hours, and students play a big part in achieving this, Fox said.\n"Volunteerism is really the heart of hospice care," she said. \nThirty-eight facilitators, mostly graduate students and some staff members, and the student volunteers logged 678 hours of community service in one morning, McCallister said. She expects the event to continue to grow as it becomes part of IU tradition. \n"The event was small this time, but every year it's going to get bigger," McCallister said. "We have to start somewhere." \nNew Student Service Day not only allowed new students to get off campus but gave them a way to meet people as well. \n"The best part was doing something social and talking with my future classmates," freshman Eli Major said. \nDoing community service also raised awareness about Bloomington. \n"I wasn't aware of the severity of poverty in some parts of Bloomington," said Kelly Breeze, a transfer student from Pennsylvania. \nBreeze spent her time working at Middle Way House, a shelter for victims of domestic violence. In her two hours at the shelter, she bailed paper as part of the group's side business, work she said she found to be both tiring and rewarding.\n"There was this sweet little boy who kept bringing us little Dixie cups of water as we were working," Breeze said. "I kept thinking that if his mother hadn't had the courage to get them out of their home situation, he would have had a 90 percent chance of growing up to hit his own children. I thought, 'There is hope, things can get better."