Volunteer Fair draws students

BY EMMA STENZEL
Cardinal Staff

While some seniors at Saint Mary’s University look to further their education in graduate school or begin their search for jobs, others hope to volunteer after graduation.

On Nov. 3, SMU hosted the Volunteer Fair to expose students to many long-term and short-term volunteering opportunities. The fair has been coming to SMU for nearly 10 years, according to Chris McClead, director of campus ministry. The organizations in the fair travel together, visit numerous college campuses across the nation and offer a variety of service opportunities for students.

Twenty-one long-term organizations stationed themselves in the basement of Toner Center. In addition, 10 short-term groups made an appearance at the fair. This was the first year that SMU has ever had short-term organizations visit campus.

McClead said that long-term groups offer more stability to a volunteer by providing educational grants, insurance, and stipends. While long-term volunteers are fully dedicated to their services and have become part of a community, short-term volunteering does not require a high level of commitment and often involves work that can be done in a volunteer’s spare time.

Providence VolunteerMinistries (PVM), a longterm program that travels with the Volunteer Fair, typically sees great interest from students. “Beyond getting the word out,” said PVM volunteer, Rachel Andrepont, “volunteer fairs present a wonderful opportunity to expose college students to the idea of service and tell them about our own experiences volunteering.”

Some of the more popular long-term organizations at the fair included Lasallian Volunteers, Jesuit Volunteers and Dominican Volunteers, McClead said. These, along with other long-term groups, offered a wide range of volunteer work such as helping in schools, prisons, employment services, addiction recoveries and health facilities.

Some short-term opportunities included working with Winona area schools, the Red Cross, homeless shelters and affordable housing. The fair did not receive the desired response from SMU students, said McClead. The fair’s open hours of 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. were not ideal for most students’ schedules due to conflicts with classes and lunch. However, the fair was planning on visiting Winona State University later that day.

“Volunteering is all about contributing to a common good,” said McClead. “Young people have too much energy and talent to offer. By serving others, we realize how similar we all are. Those we serve are much closer to us than we may think.”

Those interested in volunteering can visit the Office of Campus Ministry for information about the groups that visited campus and other volunteer opportunities.