Hillsdale students will help community members with volunteer projects Saturday, April 11, for the Great Opportunities for Assistance and Leadership program’s 6th annual Day of Service.
Day of Service will run from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and GOAL will provide students with lunch after service activities end.
“The goal of Day of Service is to have the biggest impact on the community as we can with as many students as we can in a short amount of time,” GOAL Program Director and junior Livia Dodd said. “It’s only three hours, but we make a pretty big impact in the community.”
GOAL partners with local organizations and individuals who need help and assigns teams to complete service projects in the community, Dodd said. Service projects in previous years included walking dogs at the Greater Hillsdale Humane Society, cleaning up local parks and graveyards, and making care packages.
This year will look very similar, but there will be more volunteering for specific individuals in the community, Dodd said.
“We get those submissions from church contacts and the Widows Connecting Point,” Dodd said. “We have some elderly community members who just need some help with basic yard work, so that’s quite a few of the projects.”
Another Day of Service project this year will be helping the Early Pregnancy Loss Association paint its new office.
There are teams for each dorm, Greek house, and other teams for different groups on campus, such as Catholic Society. Larger teams will be tasked with more complicated and intricate projects, Dodd said.
The Day of Service is a good way for students to exemplify Hillsdale’s honor code and focus on giving back, according to Dodd.
“It’s very clear that we are dutiful in our studies, and it’s also evident that we are dutiful in our service,” Dodd said. “This is such a great way to serve because it’s so fun and it’s just a short amount of time.”
Sophomore Billy Joe Ball led the Delta Tau Delta team at Day of Service last year, when students walked dogs for the humane society.
“It’s always kind of difficult getting 20 dudes up to go do something,” Ball said. “When we got there, any brothers’ gripes with the day quickly dissolved when they got to go out and play with the dogs.”
Ball said he thinks students should attend Day of Service because it helps Hillsdale students engage with the outside community while practicing self-governance.
“It’s all fun and games to talk about being a good person for your community, but if you’re not practicing that when you’re 20 years old and you have the least amount of responsibility you will ever have in your life, you’re never going to practice that,” Ball said. “Day of Service helps us understand what it takes to contribute to our community.”
