GIVE Center offers new opportunities for volunteers

In the fall of 1997, Kendall Stiles and Kate Van Cantford created the GIVE Center, an award-winning volunteer organization located on the first floor of Ennis Hall, behind the Governor’s Mansion and across from Chick-Fil-A. Since its inception, the GIVE Center has established beneficial relationships with over 60 community agencies, most within the Baldwin County area.

“There was a need and a desire for a group of students who wanted to volunteer,” GIVE Center Director Kendall Stiles said.

The goal of its founders was to provide students with an outlet for community service and volunteerism and to provide a means of enhancing education beyond traditional classroom learning. Paul Sedor, a GC&SU alumnus, has worked at the GIVE Center since his junior year. This is his third year there and he works as an assistant to Director Kendall Stiles. He originally wanted to go into law but after working at the GIVE Center he became interested in non-profit work.

“The GIVE Center opened up many opportunities for me. I have fun meeting new people, helping others, and raising money for a good cause,” Sedor said.

The GIVE Center is always on the lookout for more volunteers. Interested students are required to undergo a background check and a volunteer orientation process. Students may then begin volunteer work, logs of which will be recorded on verification forms to ensure that all hours of work will be counted.

“Right now we are taking the GIVE Center to the next level. We are currently moving to a new location and working on making a new mission statement,” Stiles said.

Student coordinators are also needed to recruit and train new volunteers, acquire funding, run meetings, make presentations and evaluate the programs.

Volunteers receive an experiential transcript to accompany their academic transcript upon graduation. This transcript can aid in applications for advanced studies, jobs, internships and scholarships.

Student volunteers who complete over 100 hours of community service within a 12 month period are eligible to receive the Presidential Volunteer Service Award.

“This semester we are looking to more closely follow up with our individual volunteers and give our servant leaders more leadership
development,” Stiles said.

The group’s major focus this year is Project Impacts, co-sponsored by the Campus Activities Board and Blockbuster. The event will consist of a movie, public speaker and community service project based around a centralized theme, which will range from topics such as domestic violence to AIDS and HIV awareness.

Project Impacts will take place on the third Wednesday of every month at 5:00 p.m. in the GIVE Center. It will be free to students and offer door prizes and refreshments in addition to the entertainment.

In addition, the GIVE Center also boasts a community service library and resource room that contains a collection of videos, CDs, newspapers, magazines and books available for check out for short periods of time.

For further information regarding the GIVE Center, call 445-5700 or 445-5936.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 2 2005. Filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry