Purpose: The purpose of the Council is to advance community service at Penn State and to create interesting and engaging opportunities for all students at Penn State to become service volunteers. The Council also works to maintain an effective leadership network for Penn State’s community service organizations. Council members share best practices about leadership, service project planning, membership recruitment, fundraising, officer transition and learn about Penn State resources that are available to support their organizations.
Mission: “We meet with each other and community leaders to share methods of best practice in order to improve our individual service organizations and better educate students in service learning.”
Vision: “We strive to promote volunteerism in order to further a culture of service on campus and in its surrounding communities that enriches both personal and academic growth.”
The State Day of Service and Service Project Collaborations: Leaders within the Council build collaborations each year to jointly create and sponsor service projects. In 2011 and for a few years later, Council leaders cooperated to create a State Day of Service program which engaged hundreds of students in volunteer service projects in the Centre region. The event served as a significant symbol of support for the local community on a day that many other students and visitors engaged in high-risk drinking and community disruption. (See Daily Collegian article).
Thanksgiving Food Drive: For the first time in Fall 2019, Council members collaborated to collect hundreds of Thanksgiving Baskets for Centre County families in need during the holiday season. This food drive was previously carried out by Students Engaging Students and was passed on to Council by 2019. This event was amazing in bringing together the large Penn State community towards service and giving back to others. It engaged students, faculty, and staff for an entire month to donate, collect, and organize the food baskets. News Article about Food Drive
The Penn State Volunteer Calendar: Council leaders created the Penn State volunteer calendar to provide a tool they can use to get their own members to sign up for service projects. But the calendar also allows community not-for-profit agencies to engage Penn State student volunteers. Local agency leaders can contact Penn State’s Student Activities office to post a volunteer event on the calendar (814) 865-1051.