Hands On Georgia Week at GCSU
Last year, more than 68,000 volunteers participated in service
projects across the state of Georgia during Hands On Georgia Week.
Sept. 29 through Oct. 4, the GCSU GIVE Center worked with various campus organizations to inspire college students to get involved in volunteering and serving the local community. As the only university affiliate of Hands on Georgia, the GIVE Center takes pride in mobilizing volunteers through the many student organizations that participate in serving the community.
“We are real excited about this week. There are lots of events going on,” GIVE Center Director Kendall Stiles, said. “This week, a lot more people have come by the GIVE Center to find out ways they can get involved.”
Saturday, Sept. 29, more than fifty students from the residential
learning communities made their way out to Walter B. Williams Park to participate in the Hands On Georgia event in Milledgeville. Volunteers planted trees and picked up trash to make the park a more community friendly environment.
All week, the Women’s Resource Center has been a happening place, with people in and out painting t-shirts for The Clothesline Project. This is the sixth year GCSU has participated in the program to raise national awareness about gender-based violence.
“The Clothesline Project is a really great way for women who have suffered from gender-based violence to break the silence and also know they’re not alone,” said Women’s Resource Center Coordinator Jennifer Graham-Stephens. “It gives women a sense of strength.”
The t-shirts are color coded to represent the form of abuse and
whether or not a victim survived the abuse. This year’s Clothesline Project at GCSU has already produced around 450 t-shirts from survivors and friends and families of victims.
Superstars, an after school program, participated in a couple of
service projects for Hands On Georgia Week. The elementary school students colored pictures to give to local nursing homes and made ornaments that they will sell at the Sweetwater Festival to raise money for Santa’s Miracle Fund. College students that volunteer with Superstars love what they do and enjoy having an impact in the lives of the students that come every Monday and Wednesday afternoon.
“This is my fourth year working with Superstars and I’ve really gotten to know the kids that come regularly,” Superstars Director Hannah Oothoudt said. “You realize the kids really do get to know you and they like to have a stable person involved in their lives. I enjoy being there for them.”
Gamma Sigma Sigma, the National Service Sorority at GCSU, participated in Hands on Georgia Week by doing health education with fourth and fifth graders involved in 4-H at a local elementary school. Some of their activities included making the classic healthy snack Ants on a Log, performing stretching exercises, and playing the infamous game of Duck, Duck, Goose! Their goal was to encourage students to eat healthy and exercise.
Members of this organization truly enjoy serving the communities of Milledgeville and Baldwin County.
“I just absolutely love doing community service and giving back to the community,” Gamma Sigma Sigma member Carter Whitt said. “By doing community service, I’m not just a college student slurping up everything Milledgeville offers without giving back to the community.”
More than ten campus organizations actively participated in Hands on Georgia Week. Pi Kappa Phi handed out Test on the 10th shower cards.
The Life Enrichment Center along with other organizations stuffed envelopes for United Way Kick-Off, prepared for Special Olympics Bocce Ball, and put together send off packets for students that are walking in the Susan G. Komen Race for a Cure. No Boundaries Club along with the GIVE Center handed out Disabilities Awareness Packets, while the Environmental Science Club picked up recycling collection bins and the GCSU Art Club hosted an Empty Bowls Preparation service project.
The GIVE Center is working hard to inspire to students to get involved in volunteering with the local community. Hands On Georgia Week was packed full with service projects to provide students with a taste of what community service and volunteering is all about.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Oct 10 2008. Filed under Features.
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