Metropolitan State University takes part in United We Serve campaign

By Vickie Lee-Her

Metropolitan State University takes part in the nationwide service initiative, United We Serve, by offering the Metropolitan State community a chance to volunteer on Sept. 10. As part of the United We Serve’s 81 days of service, the Civic Engagement and Center for Community-Based Learning (CCBL) and Student Activities have brought together eight great organizations the Met-ropolitan State community can volunteer for.

The United We Serve initiative began in response to the nation’s need to, “Build a new foundation for economic growth.” President Obama called on all Americans to participate in the nation’s recovery and renewal by serving in local communities. According to the Web site www.Serve.gov, United We Serve is an initial 81 days of service but will grow into a sustained, collaborative and focused effort to promote service as a way of life for all Americans.

“This is exciting and very different for us because most of the work the CCBL does is academically based,” says Susan Shumer, Director of Community Outreach at the CCBL. “When we saw the cause from the President and the First Lady, we thought it fit really well with Constitution Day. We thought we could really promote serving in the community within a one-week period of time.” The Metropolitan State chapter of United We Serve offers the University community a day, or even just a few hours, of volunteer opportunities with the following organizations.

Simpson Housing: Volunteers help make sandwiches for shelter guests to take for lunch. Volunteers are treated to a tour of the shelter, view a short film and learn about homeless issues.

Community Design Center of Minnesota: Volunteers help to harvest fresh vegetables from the gardens at 3rd St. and Maria St. for the Community-Sustained Agriculture Shares and lend their skills to garden repair projects such as painting fences and building raised garden beds.

Minnesota Department of Agriculture: Volunteers work in teams to distribute flyers that provide information about the Emerald ash borer, an exotic beetle which has recently made Minnesota its home.

Meals on Wheels: Volunteers work in teams to deliver meals to individuals who are unable to cook for themselves.

Books for Africa: Volunteers help sort books by category and age level and pack books for distribution to children in Africa.

District 4 Council: Volunteers help build raised garden beds and plant wildflowers at Skidmore Park Community Garden and Hamm Wildflower Garden. Arc Thrift Store: Volunteers help with sorting donations, tagging merchandise, hanging clothing, stocking shelves and racks and straightening the sales floor.

The goal of the United We Serve day at Metropolitan State is to encourage individuals to volunteer and hope that people will realize they could share their time by volunteering at local organi-zations.

“Our hope is that this will help people realize this is something they personally want to do,” says Shumer. “We want people to have a taste for volunteering—to be a part of their community. It’s an opportunity we wanted to take advantage of and put under the guidance of the United We Serve initiative.”

Although the Metropolitan State initiative only lasts a day, the CCBL will be working to connect individuals with organizations they may want to continually serve. For more information about the United We Serve initiative, visit http://www.serve.org. To learn more about Metropolitan State’s Civic Engagement and Center for Community-Based Learning, visit: http://www.metrostate.edu/msweb/community/ccbl/index.html