East Carolina University.
A P i rat e ’s Guide to
Service
Tomorrow starts here.
A publication of the Volunteer and Service-Learning Center
New Initiatives for a New Year More than 10,000 ECU students contribute 130,000 hours of service to eastern North Carolina communities each year. Undergraduate women, service-oriented student organizations and pre-med students historically have been active volunteers. But what about those groups of students that are typically less engaged in service, including men, graduate students and distance education students? Are they too busy? Are the average service opportunities unappealing or unrelated to their interests and talents? During the 2009-2010 academic year, the VSLC will specifically target these three groups. First, the Center hopes to learn why these students document fewer service hours than other peer groups. To gather that information, we’ll look at data from previous years service records and invite representatives to sit on the Student Service Council. Second, the Center will promote the value of service to faculty and staff closely connected with under-represented student groups to build a network of supporters committed to encouraging life-long service. Finally, the Center will increase the visibility of service opportunities appropriate for these groups of students. These may include opportunities sponsored by national community partners, family friendly partners, and onetime events.
Engaging Students as Leaders in Service With the start of another school year, the Center is expanding yet again! Not only will changes occur electronically with our database and web site design, but our student staff is growing too. This increase means the Center will be better able to meet the service needs of our institution, and students will have meaningful opportunities to develop their leadership abilities. Service-learning coordinator Jessica Gagne Cloutier has hired three student service-learning associates. These associates will be paired with a faculty member to develop the foundation of service-learning in the classroom, support consistent and connected reflection, and maintain successful community partner relations. Mike Loeffelman, the volunteer coordinator, has hired eight peer counselors for the year. Peer counselors will assist in the daily functions of the Center, such as answering e-mail and phone calls, meeting with students, and managing the database. Peer counselors will also coordinate student-run programs like Pirate Playtime, F.O.C.U.S. and T.R.I.P.S. Finally, ECU-READS will be run by a student intern rather than a part-time AmeriCorps member. This will be a full time commitment for Kim Scott, who will also be enrolled in the Center’s NC-ACTS program.
Page Two
Page Three
Page Four
VSLC Staff Spotlight Sylvan Heights Universally Accessible Tree House
University Million Meals Event Saturday Service Program
Calendar of VSLC Upcoming Events Snack Projects Fluff-n-Puff
A Pirate’s Guide to Service Page 2
AmeriCorps*VISTA
VSLC Staff Spotlight
Every year, the VSLC welcomes a new staff member hired through North Carolina Campus Compact (NCCC). The NCCC program, part of the AmeriCorps National Campus Compact, is a coalition of North Carolina colleges and universities collaborating to increase campus-wide participation in community and public service. East Carolina University has been a member of the coalition since 2004, and has employed a total of 4 AmeriCorps*VISTA’s (Volunteers In Service To America) that have dedicated one or two years of service to the VSLC. Kimberly Caudle, the new 2009-2010 VISTA, will be starting her position at the end of this month. Along with helping in the Center’s daily tasks, her main responsibilities will include publishing monthly issues of A Pirate’s Guide to Service, overseeing the Campus Kitchens Project and supervising student-run programs and alternative break trips focused on disaster relief. Below is Kim’s biography, including an explanation for her passion in pursuing this job.
East Carolina University
I’m from Greensboro, NC. I am the youngest of three. I have a 26 year old sister who attended graduate school at ECU, and a 38 year old half-sister who lives in SC. I attended undergrad at Appalachian State and graduated in December of 2007 with a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in Business with a minor in Communication. Since graduation I have held two jobs. My first job out of school was with Target in a management position. My second was with a not-for-profit hospital where I worked in funds development. I decided to do AmeriCorps because I thought it was a great opportunity to do service and to learn about myself simultaneously. I have always enjoyed service and the feeling helping people gives me. I am hoping that my VISTA experience will help to shed some light on a next logical career path, whether it be graduate school for student development or a career in the non-profit sector or something completely different that I have not begun to imagine. What better way is there to learn about yourself than to spend a year helping others?
As far as ECU goes, I really liked what I was told about the VISTA position and upcoming projects on this campus. I was also excited about the possibility of moving to a new city and “fending for myself ” for a while. This comes back to the self discovery that I mentioned previously. I wanted to see how I would cope. The reason VISTA appealed to me is that poverty is such a huge issue in this country! I do not think that the average American understands or thinks about how big of an issue poverty is in America and I want to help change that. I was drawn to the on-campus VISTA position because I think that college aged students are a great population to motivate and educate on social issues, including poverty. I am also very interested in possibly pursuing a degree in Collegiate Student Development and feel that the on-campus staff position of VISTA would help determine whether or not this would be a good fit. I am really excited to be coming to Greenville and working on the ECU campus and with the surrounding community. I think that this is a great opportunity to really make a lasting impact and I can’t wait to get started!
Sylvan Heights Universally Accessible Tree House Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park opened its Scotland Neck, North Carolina facility to the pubic in 2006. Mike Lubbock, his wife Ali, and their son Brent dedicate the majority of their time to the 3,000 ducks, geese, swans and cranes that make up the largest collection of waterfowl in the world. The Center has natural, walk-through aviaries dedicated to waterfowl specific to Eurasia, South America, North America, Africa, Australia. Other sights include a multinational aviary, flamingos, brush turkeys, exotic birds, pheasants, and emu. A main project of 2009 has been the construction of a universally accessible treehouse, appropriately named Bird’s Nest. One of the VSLC alternative spring break groups spent a few days at the Center clearing land for its infrastructure. A long, wooden pathway will lead to a spacious deck overlooking a natural wetland. Mike and his staff are working hard to create the natural environment which will be home to several turtle species. Built in collaboration with Forever Young Treehouses, Inc., Bird’s Nest Treehouse will be open to the public August 1, 2009.
In every community there is work to be done. In every nation there are wounds to heal. In every heart there is the power to do it. MarianneWilliamson
New Volunteer Projects
A Pirate’s Guide to Service Page 3
University Million Meals Event 2009
Organized by Stop Hunger Now and the VSLC, this annual event is happening on Saturday, August 22 at the Boys and Girls Club on Firetower Road. This will be the second year the Million Meals Challenge has come to Greenville. The event is a combined effort with ECU, NC State and UNC-Chapel Hill to package one million meals to feed the hungry around the world. Last year, the ECU packaging site at C.M. Eppes Middle School hosted 750 volunteers who helped package 201,108 dry meals. This year, with support from both the community and ECU, we hope to reach and exceed these results.
East Carolina University
Typically, the day is divided into three separate shifts, each three hours long. After volunteers check in and register, they are sorted into groups of ten and assigned a station. These stations consist of funneling rice and dried vegetables, weighing, sealing and packaging. Volunteers also assist with supplying stations with materials, running packages between stations, and assembling and transporting sealed boxes to the truck outside. This part of shift usually lasts one and a half hours. In addition to packaging meals, volunteers also complete an orientation and reflection component. Volunteers are given the opportunity to share their experience with peers immediately after the event to reflect on the impact they have made. In addition to media attention, local figures such as the city mayor and the university’s provost attend as guest speakers to highlight the importance of addressing world hunger. If you are interested in volunteering for this event, please contact the VSLC volunteer coordinator, Mike Loeffelman, (loeffelmanm@ecu.edu) for further information. Individuals and groups welcome… this is an event you don’t want to miss!
Saturday Service Program In an effort to bring a new outlook to community service, the VSLC has been working with the Campus Living OSSR office on remodeling the community service assignment process. Under the new format, students who receive on-campus violations will no longer be sent out into the community to complete an assigned volunteer requirement. Instead, students will either volunteer directly on campus with various departments or through the Saturday Service Program. The Saturday Service Program focuses on connecting the ECU campus with the Greenville community, specifically the downtown Police and Fire Departments. On select Saturdays throughout the year, students will complete service projects located on or near campus to fulfill their sanction requirement. Two campus facilitators will supervise the group during the project and also lead an education and reflection component after the project is finished. Hopefully, this new design will alleviate the additional work put on nonprofit organizations to accommodate adjudicated volunteers as well as eliminate the role of the VSLC in community service. In addition to the Greenville community, students will also benefit from this new program. Projects will be located directly on campus or in the downtown area, removing the need for transportation to and from sites. Students also have the opportunity to do service collectively and interact with the campus facilitators. The education and reflection component will ideally bring about a positive view on the importance of volunteering and the need present in the community. Ultimately, new relationships between students, on-campus departments, community partners and downtown Greenville will be formed in the hope of uniting different populations under the same goal of serving others. This program will be implemented with the start of the academic year in August 2009. Our volunteer coordinator, Mike Loeffelman, is in the process of working with campus departments and downtown Greenville on securing project dates and locations. Although still in the planning stages, some of the project ideas include; scraping gum off the sidewalks, collecting trash after a football game, washing K9 unit police cars and assisting maintenance with cleaning campus buildings.
Calendar of VSLC Upcoming Events
A Pirate’s Guide to Service Page 4
Snack Project: Thursday, July 16 from 10:30-11:30a.m. Building Hope. Snack Project: Tuesday, July 21 from 10:30-11:30a.m. Boys and Girls Minges Unit. Sylvan Heights Handicap AccessibleTree House Dedication: Friday, July 31 at 12 p.m. Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park and EcoCenter. FOCUS Move In and Retreat: Wednesday, August 19 – Friday, August 21. Million Meals Challenge: Saturday, August 22. For more information, www.ecu.edu/vslc Fall Service Fair: Wednesday, September 16 from 12:30-3:00 p.m. Alternative Fall Break Trip: Saturday, October 10 – Wednesday, October 13. NCCC Student Conference: Friday, November 6 – Saturday, November 7. Western Carolina University. For more information, Million Meals 2008 Photographs Left: volunteers filling bags with rice and dried veggies. Center: the daylong student leaders. Right: volunteers weighing bags to meet meal requirements.
Snack Projects
Fluff n Puff
Every summer, ECU opens its campus grounds to orientation tours and summer camps. Eager parents of recent high school graduates snap photographs and walk through classroom buildings, while local elementary and high school students spend the night in residence halls during camp sessions. As part of the campus life experience, ECU provides boxed lunches to participating children and orientation groups. However, it is a challenge to estimate how many lunches need to be prepared, and as a result there is always leftover food.
The Humane Society of Eastern North Carolina hosted three ‘Fluff ‘N Puff ’ events this summer. Beginning mid-June, all dogs were welcome to Jarvis Memorial United Methodist Church in downtown Greenville and Best Buy for a canine bath and pampering! Depending on the size of the dog, the Humane Society charged a minimal fee for a washing and grooming. Owners and dogs alike were then free to mingle with the rest of the company for the day, giving the animals a chance to run around and enjoy the nice weather.
The VSLC collaborates with orientation leaders to pick up any leftover apples, bags of chips and cookies twice a week over June and July. These donations are then delivered to local community partners like The Little Willie Center, Operation Sunshine, Boys and Girls Club and Eppes Middle School. This year, the Center will hold 8 snack projects.
Bow Wow Bingo is on August 5 from 6:00-9:00p.m. at Pitt County Schools and Recreation Complex. There will be cash prizes and lots of good times to go around! Tickets are $20 for initial game cards and can be purchased at the Humane Society facility or by calling Kim at 252-355-4679.
Mark your calendars!
Volunteer and Service-Learning Center Old Cafeteria Complex 252-328-2735 (phone) 252-328-0139 (fax) www.ecu.edu/vslc vslc@ecu.edu Shawn Moore, Community Partner Coordinator Jessica Gagne Cloutier, Service-Learning Coordinator Michael Loeffelman, Volunteer Coordinator Judy Baker, Institutional and Community Development Consultant Jennifer Bergman & Kimberly Caudle, AmeriCorps*Vista Members
July Edition 2009