Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Service-A-Thon gets UIS students off on right foot

Mark Dochterman, director of the UIS Volunteer and Civic Engagement Center, said about 50 volunteers participated in projects around Springfield on Friday as part of the Service-A-Thon.

In addition to the Habitat site on Fifth Street, volunteers worked at another building site on Enterprise Street and the Habitat ReStore.

Other students volunteered at Southeast High School and Jefferson, Lincoln and Washington middle schools with the Springfield School District’s AVID tutoring program. A third group helped Hospital Sisters Mission Outreach to sort medical supplies for distribution worldwide.

Getting students involved in the community early is an important part of the event, Dochterman said.

“We want to start the year off on a good foot,” he said. “We find that if we get them involved right away, a lot of times it sticks.”

The Service-A-Thon was featured by the State Journal-Register on Sept. 1, 2012.

Read the article online