The school year is now in full swing, along with service opportunities for Salve students! Kelly Powers is the Director of Community Service here at Salve and this year she is also serving as an FYT instructor. Kelly has seen first-hand the transition of freshmen who were thrown into this first-year of college whirlwind. Freshman, just like upperclassman, must complete a minimum amount of ten hours of service to graduate, which is easily done with the amount of opportunities Salve offers students to become involved.
When asked how community service is going with COVID, Powers answered, “The Center is busy as usual. We have had to adjust with some of our usual programs. We usually hold our annual service fair in September, but we changed it to a six-week series on ZOOM. Through this we host a variety of our community partners showcasing their organization’s needs.”
You can check out opportunities to volunteer on the community service Facebook and Instagram pages! Powers ran a volunteer experience called the Service Plunge, which she said was a huge success. The Service Plunge gives freshmen a chance to come to campus a few days before move-in day and participate in service activities such as cleaning up the beaches at the Norman Bird Sanctuary.
Although COVID-19 is very much present, Kelly told of how changes have been made, “to our Day of Service in that we hosted on campus events rather than going out into the community. We will still be hosting our Annual Tree gift drive and Thanksgiving drive as our children/families will be in need more than ever,” to accommodate Rhode Island social distancing restrictions. Powers mentioned some of the changes made: there are only a set amount of students on the vans, events have been being hosted outside, and they cap the event to fit with the COVID capacity of the room. As of right now, no service events have been cancelled, which is a huge feat! Kelly added that, “With our one-time events we have hosted the same amount with a few adjustments. This year we have had the MASK Brigade and that has been a huge success.”
Powers says she is optimistic that if everyone works together to follow the new ‘life’ rules, Salve will remain open and continue to support the community members in need. We ended off our discussion with Kelly stating, “I also know that our students always rise to the occasion when our partners call to request volunteers.”
Check out this link https://salve.edu/community-service/service-opportunities to find service opportunities for you!
Cover Image: “Beach clean up” by USFWS Pacific Southwest Region is licensed under CC BY 2.0
