Students can learn about opportunities to gain service hours and support the community next Monday at the Volunteer Fair.
The Center for Student Engagement will be hosting the event from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the GUC Atrium on Sept. 8. It will be an opportunity to learn about opportunities for students to see who needs volunteer work and how to get involved with those groups.
Last year’s Volunteer Fair showcased many nonprofits and businesses that wanted to help students get involved. The CSE holds a similar event in the Spring Semester called Lions Lend a Hand.
“[Student Engagement] wanted to make sure we still give our students an opportunity to get involved with different organizations from around the Shoals community and UNA community,” Matthew Jones, the Director of Student Activities and Leadership Development, said. “To really get them the opportunity to volunteer at those organizations and give back.
Last year’s event featured about 16 organizations, including Big Brother, Big Sister of the Shoals, The Healing Place, Habitat for Humanity and Alabama Hospice.
“A lot of students have to get volunteer hours, rather it be for, like, Greek life or anything else,” Zuleima Sanchez, an attendee at last year’s event, said. “Learning about the organizations and the opportunities is really beneficial, but also just for the students to know about because, like, they don’t know when they’ll need those resources or when they might want to work with it.”
The event was originally planned to be hosted by the now shuttered Mitchell-West Center for Social Inclusion, and has been hosted by both Mitchell-West and CSE in years past.
