Tag Archives: SERV

Articles from the SERV board, giving you weekly opportunities to help out in your community.

SERV Activity Update

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NEW FROM SERV: Community Service @ Lunch! Starting next Friday, SERV Lunches in the dining hall will now include a drop-in community service activity. We’ll be doing a new project each week – stop by, drop in, and help out for as long as you’d like. Our first project will be to make sock puppets for kids at Boston’s Children’s Hospital.

Service Opportunities: (Contact anyone on SERV if you’d be interested in learning more!)
Mentor Needed: Technovation Challenge for Needham 8th Grade Girls, Pollard Middle School
Mentor Needed: RoboNatick – Natick High School Robotics Club
Volunteer Teachers needed: Memorial Elementary After School Activities Program (ASAP) in Natick
Mentor Needed: Westwood High School Robotics team

Want to Start a Service Project? Welcome back to a new semester! This is the column where SERV usually puts all the ongoing service activities, however, we realized many of our current project leaders are taking semesters abroad, or working on senior capstone projects, etc. But don’t let that fool you! Service Projects can be done by anyone, any time. Here are the top seven reasons why you might want to start your own service project (number 2 will surprise you!)
7. Learn more about the community, city, and world around you. It’s no surprise that getting off Olin’s campus can be a challenge. Use your Service Project as a way to get outside the bubble and explore.
6. Practice your skills and Learn new things. Many service projects will make use of the skills. Whether it’s building bikes with Bikes Not Bombs, planting gardens with The Food Project, tutoring students in Needham, volunteer-teaching at an arts studio, or many others, you can use Service to augment your Olin education experience.
5. Have fun with your friends! Community service work isn’t always easy, but working on a team with people who support and care about you makes it much better. Plus, community service is a great excuse to hang out on a Saturday afternoon or a Wednesday evening.
4. Flexible options. Some organizations are looking for a multi-hour, semester-long commitment; other organizations can accept volunteers for one-off activities. SERV will support and fund Service Pursuits for projects you might do on your own, Chartered Projects for teams of students, and one-time events. Look at the SERV brochure on the Civic Engagement board outside the dining hall for reimbursement details.
3. Create meaningful and authentic connections with others. When doing community service, you tend to meet a lot of people. Some of those people might turn out to be great mentors, friends, or partners in your future endeavors.
2. SERV can help with transportation and logistics! SERV’s job is to make it as easy as possible for Oliners to do community service. That means we’re available to help with logistics, like coordinating meeting times or covering transportation costs. This semester we’re hoping to help Service Project leaders get Olin Van trained – stay tuned for updates.
1. Make life better. Each of us has the capacity to create an impact on the world around us. Even through the tiny actions of our day-to-day life, we can create a little bit of joy, relieve a little bit of suffering, or spark a little bit of curiosity. I would argue that together, these little legacies might equal all the Big Things we will do in our lives. Doing community service is a good way to keep that in perspective; and take it from a Jaded Senior™, keeping a good perspective is essential.

Interested? We hope you’ll consider reaching out to Grace, Michael, or Ashlee, who would be more than happy to help you set up your Service Project. Or, you can stop by the SERV table at lunch for fun activities and good conversation!

A Community SERVey

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This October, SERV sent out a survey asking Oliners to describe their experiences with community service, both before coming to Olin and after. We’ve heard repeatedly that people want to do more to interact with communities outside The Bubble, but “doing more” can be a big challenge when we already do so much. We hoped to use people’s experiences and responses to think about how to make community service more accessible and appealing to a broader cross-section of Olin students, and also better-support all the students who already do community service here.

Thanks to the 58 students who filled out the survey – the results are in!

If logistics (like transportation) didn’t matter, how often would you see yourself doing a community service activity?
48% of respondents said they would like to do a community service activity either every week or every other week. Another 24% would be interested in doing monthly community service. The vast majority of respondents do want to find a way to fit community service into their schedules; from their answers to the question, “describe your community service experience,” we know that most haven’t found that way yet.

Logistically, what kinds of service opportunities appeal to you?
The two top choices here were short, low-level commitments on campus (73% of respondents were interested) and afternoons off-campus (71%).

What kinds of community issues interest you? (Check all that apply)
Unsurprisingly, the top choice here is STEM Tutoring – 70% of respondents would be interested in this option. This is also the option that might already be best-covered by existing clubs on campus like igniteCS or eDisco. The other high percentages included Environment (59%), Food Access (57%), and Olin Community (57%). Other options included animal care, healthy relationships, international issues, developmental disabilities, health care, and elder care, which ranked between 40% and 20%.

What might deter you, or what has deterred you in the past, from getting involved in community service? (Check all that apply)
66% of students cited a lack of time, and 62% cited time conflicts. However, 50% of those surveyed also said that they “don’t know when community service events happen.” Clearly, while rethinking the organizational structure of SERV activities will be useful, more or different publicity is needed as well.

What could SERV do to address these issues?
In addition to the raw data, the SERVey also provided some specific guidelines for what SERV ought to be doing to better support volunteerism and service. Some are more obvious, and just require a bit of organization on our end; others might need more long-term action. Either way, this semester’s and next semester’s SERV teams can try to:
1. Schedule early in the semester:
“Make a schedule of events at the start of the semester and let everyone know what that will be before they commit to other stuff”
2. Provide more infrastructure and logistical support for organizers:
“If all logistics are taken care of, it’d help.”
“the main problem is that setting up service opportunities takes a lot of effort on the organizer’s behalf”
“make the initial process as easy as possible”
3. Publicize events more frequently – many people suggested that we do a monthly newsletter. We do list everything in Frankly Speaking, but it’s worth posting it elsewhere as well!
“flyers in the dining hall about when certain community service events happen, email signups”
“Do more updates on activities that have spots for volunteers”
“IDK man, send out a when to meet?”
4. Organize Olin Van Trainings (75% of respondents did not have a car):
“Olin Van training has historically been difficult to arrange.”
“If y’all could get me van trained I’d be happy to drive to events!”
5. Organize more, and potentially different, activities:
“Present more opportunities that are less physically demanding.”
“Have a wider variety of service opportunities”

So, now what?
We’re really glad to have gotten so much good feedback on what community service could be at Olin. Now’s the fun part: putting ideas into action! If you want to help out, if you’ve got a service project or idea, if you think the ideas we described here are no good, or if you’d just like to express your disappointment in our use of “SERV” puns, we’d love to hear about it at SERV Lunch! Wednesdays, 12:30-1:00 under the clocks. We’ll see you there!

<3 SERV

SERV Activity Update

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SERV Auction: Justin Kunimune
With over 300 donations, the SERV Auction raised $10,707.78 for Unidos por Puerto Rico, significantly more money than last year. Thank you to everyone who participated.

MSPCA (Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals): Emma Price
MSCPA is a great organization that takes in animals all over the state, makes sure they’re healthy, and finds good homes for them. They take all variety of animals and have volunteer positions like cat adoption room monitor (that’s what I do), dog walker, small animal monitor, and a ton more!

Charles River Center: Emma Price
The Charles River Center is a non-profit organization based in Needham that works to improve the lives of people with developmental disabilities and help support their families. They have a variety of different programs for people of all ages, all with really fun activities like Zumba and yoga!

Bikes Not Bombs: Maggie Jakus
Bikes Not Bombs is an organization that recycles old bicycles and sends bikes to economic development programs around the world as well as youth education programs in the nearby area. They have volunteer nights on Thursdays when volunteers prepare bikes for shipment. You also get to learn a lot about bikes!

Big Brothers Big Sisters: Justin Kunimune
Matches have met once this month and now prepare to take a break for Thanksgiving.

Alternative Spring Break: Michael Costello
An Alternative Spring Break is a great chance to do a full week of full-time community service work. We’ll be taking a team of Olin students to help a community with natural disaster relief or home construction – more details to come. Watch your email for a signup form!

SERV Activity Update

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SERV Auction: Justin Kunimune
The SERV Auction has kicked off with the Silent Auction opening this week. Be sure to look through the bids for things that interest you; all money raised will go to the charity chosen by the community. Also be sure to come to the Live Auction on Friday in the Dining Hall during lunch! Proceeds go to Unidos por Puerto Rico.

Big Brothers Big Sisters: Justin Kunimune
The program has started up for the semester, with a total of thirty matches. There have been three outings at Babson thus far, with plenty more scheduled for the rest of the semester.

Charles River Center: Emma Price
The Charles River Center is a non-profit organization based in Needham that works to improve the lives of people with developmental disabilities and help support their families. They have a variety of different programs for people of all ages, all with really fun activities like Zumba and yoga!

MSPCA (Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals): Emma Price
MSCPA is a great organization that takes in animals all over the state, makes sure they’re healthy, and finds good homes for them. They take all variety of animals and have volunteer positions like cat adoption room monitor (that’s what I do), dog walker, small animal monitor, and a ton more!

Bikes Not Bombs: Maggie Jakus
Bikes Not Bombs is an organization that recycles old bicycles and sends bikes to economic development programs around the world as well as youth education programs in the nearby area. They have volunteer nights on Thursdays when volunteers prepare bikes for shipment. You also get to learn a lot about bikes!

SERV Activity Updates

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Jimmy Fund Walk: Justin Kunimune
The Jimmy Fund Walk happened this month. Two students, one faculty, and two staff members turned out for the quarter-marathon walk, raising over $3,000 for cancer research from the Olin community and beyond.

Charles River Center: Emma Price
The Charles River Center is a non-profit organization based in Needham that works to improve the lives of people with developmental disabilities and help support their families. They have a variety of different programs for people of all ages, all with really fun activities, like zumba and yoga!

MSPCA (Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals): Emma Price
MSCPA is a great organization that takes in animals all over the state, makes sure they’re healthy, and finds good homes for them. They take all variety of animals and have volunteer positions like cat adoption room monitor (that’s what I do), dog walker, small animal monitor, and a ton more!

Bikes Not Bombs: Maggie Jakus
Bikes Not Bombs is an organization that recycles old bicycles and sends bikes to economic development programs around the world as well as youth education programs in the nearby area. They have volunteer nights on Thursdays when volunteers prepare bikes for shipment. You also get to learn a lot about bikes!

SERV Activity Updates

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The Daily Table: Emily Yeh

Daily Table is a nonprofit organization that makes affordable and healthy food available to people with low incomes. A group from Olin volunteers at Daily Table every Saturday (time TBD). If you’re interested, keep an eye out for an email to Carpe with more information!

 

Big Brothers Big Sisters College Campus Program: Justin Kunimune

Big Brothers Big Sisters has continued with its biweekly outings. As we approach the end of the semester, we prepare to say goodbye for our Littles for the summer.

 

Charles River Center: Emma Price

The Charles River Center is a non-profit organization based in Needham that works to improve the lives of people with developmental disabilities and help support their families. They have a variety of different programs for people of all ages, all with really fun activities (like zumba and yoga)!!

 

E-Disco: Micaela Chiang, Daniel Daughterly, Lauren Pudvan, Nicole Schubert

We have continued our monthly lessons at Schofield Elementary school. We hosted the 6th graders from Dana Hall and had them design for mythical creatures. We will be having students in the area come to Olin on April 29th to build and launch Bottle Rockets.

 

IgniteCS: Casey Alvarado, Emily Lepert, Brenna Manning, Vicky McDermott, Sophia Nielsen, Andrew Pan

We are hosting computer science workshops on Saturdays at nearby middle schools. Last semester we hosted two workshops at Dedham Middle School and Monsignor Haddad Middle School. This semester we hosted one at Pollard Middle School in Needham and will be returning to the Dedham Middle School. We are always looking for volunteers to help out at our workshops and for new members to join our curriculum design team!

 

The Food Project: Aaron Greiner, Gaby Clarke

The Food Project engages youth and works on food justice issues through running 70 acres of farm in the Greater Boston area and the North Shore. They work on advocacy, youth development, and much more. Their farms, which are largely run by youth and volunteers, produce food that is sold at affordable prices at places like farmers markets. They have volunteer opportunities at all of their farms throughout the week.

 

Massachusetts Correctional Institution (MCI) Framingham: Ashley Funk

MCI Framingham is the Massachusetts Department of Correction’s institution for incarcerated women. They have a number of opportunities for volunteers, though getting approved as a volunteer takes persistence and patience (lots of background checks and paperwork). Currently, I am volunteering in the greenhouses and providing support for the gardening program where the women grow plants to sell to the prison staff.

SERV Activity Update

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The Daily Table: Emily Yeh
Daily Table is a nonprofit organization that makes affordable and healthy food available to people with low incomes. A group from Olin volunteers at Daily Table every Saturday (time TBD). If you’re interested, keep an eye out for an email to Carpe with more information!

Big Brothers Big Sisters College Campus Program:
Big Brothers Big Sisters resumed its outings this week. Bigs will continue to meet with their Littles every 1 to 2 weeks throughout the month.

Charles River Center:
The Charles River Center is a non-profit organization based in Needham that works to improve the lives of people with developmental disabilities and help support their families. They have a variety of different programs for people of all ages

E-Disco: Micaela Chiang, Daniel Daughterly, Lauren Pudvan, Nicole Schubert
E-Disco has begun planning events for this semester. We started our monthly lessons at Schofield Elementary school. The theme for this past lesson was time travel! The students made sumerian cuneiform nametags, learned morse code, and made skyscrapers.

SERV Updates

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The Daily Table: Service Activity Leadership by Emily Yeh
Volunteer at the Daily Table in Dorchester! Daily Table is a nonprofit organization that makes affordable and healthy food available to people with low incomes. A group from Olin volunteers there every Saturday from 11am to 1pm – visit http://tinyurl.com/DailyTable to sign-up! If you have any questions, please contact Emily Yeh.

Blood Drive: Ariana Olson
Olin had a successful Fall Blood Drive this October. We received 29 presenting donors, and a total of 30 units of blood donated (including 2 Double Red donations). The drive was facilitated with the help of 6 Olin student volunteers. Thank you to all of the donors and volunteers for their time. Because the Red Cross has been in urgent need of blood, every unit donated has a huge impact. Look out for news about the Spring Blood Drive, which will be held in April.

E-Disco: Lead by Jeremy Garcia, Daniel Daughtery, Kim Winter, Micaela Chiang
Lauren Pudvan
We have had our new member meeting and have been assisting in various events for the Women’s Open House and Family Weekend at Olin. We also assisted in teaching a group of low income students at Dassault Systemes.

Big Brother Big Sister College Campus Program:
Big Brothers Big Sisters finalized all new Matches this month, and Bigs and Littles are now meeting regularly on Saturday afternoons. There are not as many Oliners in the program this year, but because of new Babson Bigs, there are more Matches overall. In coming months, the program plans to have more structured activities in conjunction with Babson and Olin clubs and organizations.

The Food Recovery Network:Needs leadership from students who can commit during the Spring semester. FRN is on pause until a new leadership team can form. Contact Mackenzie Frackleton if you’re interested!

*The Food Project: Aaron Greiner, Gaby Clarke
The Food Project engages youth and works on food justice issues through running 70 acres of farm in the Greater Boston area and the North Shore. They work on advocacy, youth development, and much more. Their farms, which are largely run by youth and volunteers, produce food that is sold at affordable prices at places like farmers markets. They have volunteer opportunities at all of their farms throughout the week.

*Gique: Ashley Funk
Gique is a Boston-based nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization which exists to inspire and educate youth in STEAM. Through after-school programs and educational workshops, Gique builds a community full of the next great thinkers, leaders, & makers. Workshops through the afterschool program occur Wednesday evenings at the Boys and Girls Club of Dorchestor, and additional workshops take place throughout the semester.

*Charles River Center: Emma Price
The Charles River Center strives “to empower and support people with developmental disabilities by offering high-quality, individualized opportunities that foster independence and community inclusion.” They have after school, job placement, weekend, and after work programs as well as events (like 5Ks and Special Olympics) that can all benefit from additional volunteers! If you are looking for a fun and very rewarding volunteer service, I highly suggest it!

*Newton Food Pantry: Logan Sweet
Located in the basement of Newton City Hall, the Newton Food Pantry focuses on healthy, fresh food. By working with community gardens and local farms, they provide produce in addition to non-perishables. There are volunteer opportunities on Wednesdays in the morning, afternoon, and evening.

*Students are volunteering for these organizations as part of Sara Hendren’ and Deb Chachra’s Critical Designer, Activist Engineer Course

SERV Updates

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The Daily Table: Service Activity Leadership by Emily Yeh
Volunteer at the Daily Table in Dorchester! Daily Table is a nonprofit organization that makes affordable and healthy food available to people with low incomes. A group from Olin will be volunteering there every Saturday from 11am to 1pm, starting in October – check the Carpediem mailing list or visit http://tinyurl.com/DailyTable to sign-up! If you have any questions, please contact Emily Yeh.

The Food Recovery Network: Led by Mackenzie Frackleton and Issac Vandor with GROW. Come to GROW dinners every Thursday at 6PM under the clocks to be a part of our discussion about shaping FRN this year! We need volunteers, especially those who can drive, those who would be willing to volunteer their car, or those who can use one of the Zipcars at Babson. SERV will reimburse mileage expenses as part of service funding, too! We also need underclassmen who are looking to take a leadership role soon, so please contact Mackenzie if you’re interested.

*Gique: Ashley Funk
Gique is a Boston-based nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization which exists to inspire and educate youth in STEAM. Through after-school programs and educational workshops, Gique builds a community full of the next great thinkers, leaders, & makers. Workshops through the afterschool program occur Wednesday evenings at the Boys and Girls Club of Dorchestor, and additional workshops take place throughout the semester.

*Charles River Center: Emma Price
The Charles River Center strives “to empower and support people with developmental disabilities by offering high-quality, individualized opportunities that foster independence and community inclusion.” They have after school, job placement, weekend, and after work programs as well as events (like 5Ks and Special Olympics) that can all benefit from additional volunteers! If you are looking for a fun and very rewarding volunteer service, I highly suggest it!

*Newton Food Pantry: Logan Sweet
Located in the basement of Newton City Hall, the Newton Food Pantry focuses on healthy, fresh food. By working with community gardens and local farms, they provide produce in addition to non-perishables. There are volunteer time slots on Wednesdays in the morning, afternoon, and evening, and they especially need people who speak Russian.

*The Food Project: Aaron Greiner, Gaby Clarke
The Food Project engages youth and works on food justice issues through running 70 acres of farm in the Greater Boston area and the North Shore. The work on advocacy, youth development, and much more. Their farms, which are largely run by youth and volunteers, produce food that is sold at affordable prices at places like farmers markets. They have volunteer opportunities at all of their farms throughout the week.

Big Brother Big Sister College Campus Program: Big Brothers Big Sisters recruited a lot of Oliners at club fair, and is currently working to match each volunteer to the ideal Little. New Bigs will meet their new Littles for the first time in late October, and bi-weekly outings at Babson will begin in early November.

Blood Drive: Olin’s fall Blood Drive is October 14. Donor and Volunteer signups will be available starting late September. Lookout for the signup table in the dining hall as the date approaches! Contact Frankie (Frances.Devanbu@students.olin.edu) or Ariana (Ariana.Olson@students.olin.edu) with any questions.

*Students are volunteering for these organizations as part of Sara Hendren’s Critical Design Activist Engineer Course

SERV Updates

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BARCC Walk for Change: Peer Advocates and Maire Keene
The Babson-Olin Team successfully piled onto a bus this past April 10th to raise funds and show their support at the Annual BARCC Walk For Change, with the 7 Olin student team members’ registration funded by SERV. The event was a great success, with beautiful weather, a lovely walk by the river, and several inspiring speakers and powerful BARCC projects on display.

Peer Advocates: Welcoming new PAs to the team: Michael Costello, Emily Engel, Kaitlyn Keil, Louise Nielsen, and Taylor Sheneman! They’ll be trained in the Fall, right before New Student Orientation. Also: we want to make sure people know that the Climate Survey results are out, and Alison Black will be hosting two talks about the results next week (May 2nd and 5th).

The Daily Table: Service Activity Leadership by Emily Yeh
Volunteer at Daily Table in Dorchester! Daily Table is a nonprofit organization that sells affordable and healthy foods to people with low incomes. A group from Olin will be volunteering over the summer (date and time to be determined, based on volunteering availabilities). Look for an email soon to sign up (tinyurl.com/OlinDailyTable)! If you have any questions, please contact Emily Yeh!

The Food Recovery Network: Led by Mackenzie Frackleton with GROW
FRN will continue over the summer, and Mackenzie and Isaac NEED volunteers! Contact Isaac if you’re interested, or if you have a car and are willing to drive between Framingham and Olin (20 minutes each way). Olin van and zipcar drivers are also welcome, FRN just can’t happen without drivers!

Youth CITIES: Andrew Holmes
Andrew has been mentoring for the Youth CITIES March to May Bootcamp every week, helping teach students how to leverage their local resources and define a business idea based around a specific problem they face in their community. Andrew has advised and helped specific students prepare for their final presentation and competition on May 7th in front of venture capitalists and entrepreneurs.

Big Brother Big Sister College Campus Program: The Big Brother Big Sister program spent the first half of April preparing for and executing on a lemonade stand at Babson to raise money and teach the Littles about entrepreneurship. Then, last week, The Big Brothers Big Sisters program at Olin and Babson came to a close for this year with an end-of-year party to which Littles’ parents and BBBS’s associates at Babson came. Justin Kunimune and Max Wei will reunite with their respective Littles next fall barring any transfers or LOAs.