Clearinghouse for Volunteers

10/09/08 - As many of the freshmen may know, it is service learning project season for all the URI 101 classes. We wanted to take time to recognize some of our projects that are newer to our program, and thank the URI 101 student volunteers that helped to make them a great success.A new project we have added this year is called the Living History project. Several classes will go into nursing homes and assisted living facilities to sit down with an elderly person to hear about their experiences and journeys throughout their life.

The students are given various questions to ask the elderly, such as "Is there something in your life that you feel is your biggest success or accomplishment?" and "What do you think about the current global warming issue?"

Then, the students take the interview and compose a poem, story, article, song, etc. from the answers. This reflective piece is then given back to the resident. The senior citizens have really enjoyed being able to share their stories with younger students, and the URI students have enjoyed meeting someone to hear their perspective on life.

For years, the RI Blood Center has held blood drives on campus several times a year. This year, we decided to add another program to the mix. We held URI's first Bone Marrow Donor Drive. Students were asked to answer several questions and receive four cheek swabs (to determine the marrow type through collection of cells.)

The event was held for three days, Sept. 23-25, in the Memorial Union Gallery. The donors will be placed into a registry and could be contacted for either stem cells or bone marrow.

Bone Marrow is very difficult to match, so the more donors they could register, the more likely lives could be saved. During the three days, they registered 90 possible donors. The URI 101 students helped out with marketing the drive-by handing out fliers, as well as helping in the actual process of the cheek swabbing.

The past weekend, URI welcomed back a group we have had visiting for years. The College Crusade of Rhode Island is a non-profit organization that reduces school dropout rates and increase educational awareness for children from low-income urban communities.

This past Saturday, Oct. 6, we welcomed 40 seventh and eighth graders to the campus to get a feel for what a college campus is like.

In the past, we have brought them on a tour and then to a football game, but this year, we planned to make it more interactive.

We set up a scavenger hunt throughout campus where URI 101 students led groups of kids to various buildings around campus and were asked trivia questions about the university. They were also asked to complete challenges at every building, for instance: "spelling URI with your bodies."

The children definitely had a blast, and the staff appreciated the new improvements to the Discovery Day. We then escorted the children down to the football game against Brown University.

Another service project that was introduced this year was Jumpstart's Read for the Record. Since 1993, Jumpstart has been working toward the day every child in America enters school prepared to succeed.

Through bringing at-risk preschool children and caring adults together in intensive, year long relationships, we have been able to build the vital literacy, social and emotional skills children need to thrive.

Jumpstart delivers a research-based, best practice curriculum to nearly 15,000 children in close to 79 communities across America.

This year, Read for the Record is a campaign to raise awareness about early literacy programs. The goal is to break the world record for the largest shared reading experience in history.

URI joined in on this effort by holding our own event where we brought first and second graders from West Kingston Elementary School to read a "Corduroy" book and partake in various arts and crafts. We also sent out several classes to different sites, including Providence and South County.

We would like to thank the URI student volunteer once more and hope the success with our service projects continues. If any of the agencies above interest you or you would like to learn more about volunteer experiences, please visit the Clearinghouse for Volunteers (Roosevelt Room 125) or e-mail (cfv@etal.uri.edu.)