U of M celebrates community service

    The amount of community service done by U of M students in the past year has greatly exceeded expectations of president David Rudd.

     “Our faculty, students, staff and alumni provided an astonishing 603,238 hours of community service this past year, exceeding our goal of 500K,” Rudd said in an email. “It speaks to the strong commitment the U of M has to the city of Memphis.  Community service and engagement is part of our core mission, part of our identity, and part of what makes the U of M unique in the higher education world.”

       Students Advocating Service sponsors most of the service opportunities around the university.

     President of Student Advocating Service, Meghan Swartz, was glad to do her part to help the others make a difference in the community.

       “I have always loved serving my community, and, being from out of state, I wanted to find a way to get better connected to the University and to the city, and I knew service was the way to do that,” Swartz said.

       Some of the programs that were sponsored by the University and Student Advocating Service include Alternative Spring Break, Service on Saturdays, weekly volunteer opportunities and Habitat for Humanity Campus Chapter.

    “I became involved with the Student Advocating Service executive board because I wanted to enhance the service opportunities for our students and to meet and build relationships with people who value service as much as I do,” said Swartz. “The Student Advocating Service exec board did a great job developing different promotional ideas and reaching out to different student groups on campus this past year. We were all fully committed to increasing our numbers not only at Service on Saturday events, but also for our weekly projects.”

     Student Advocating Service membership is free and open to anyone interested in helping to organize community service opportunities for others.