Sven Alskog
News Editor
In an effort to boost its relationship with the community, Idaho State University, led by the Student Activities Board (SAB) and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS), offers students with a Service Saturday opportunity once each month.
On Feb. 22, beginning at 8:30 a.m. inside the Bengal Café in the Pond Student Union Building, a free breakfast will be provided for all participants, followed by opportunities to volunteer throughout the community or within ISU.
“This month we are going to the Idaho Youth Ranch, the Idaho Foodbank and we will be filling ‘The Beast’ over by Ridley’s,” said Hailey Hudson, NSCS vice president of community service.
The “Feed the Beast” service opportunity is sponsored by the ISU Credit Union.
In a similar event in January, Rick Cheatum, business development manager for the ISU Credit Union, said over 426 pounds of food had been donated.
At ISU, continuing to find ways to interact with the community is of high importance, something that Service Saturday has been effective at doing over the last two years.
“One of our goals is to keep bridging the gap between CommUniversity,” said Jessica Rahill, co-director of SAB. “The ISU campus is very community-driven. It is helpful to produce students who feel the same way about giving back to the community.”
For the current school year, the number of individuals who attended the events has increased. The partnership between SAB and NSCS expidited the planning process, with SAB planning two of the Service Saturdays last semester and NSCS planning the other two.
“We were very successful last year when it started,” said Rahill. “We asked Hailey Hudson and NSCS if they would be willing to help do it, and they were very enthusiastic about it.”
Recently-hired SAB Education Programmer Mike Fernandez hopes to continue the Service Saturday run of success.
“Everybody enjoys them,” said Fernandez. “We can either put work on campus or around Pocatello, and everyone we contact is very excited about that.”
The attendance of Service Saturday this school year has increased, thanks in part to changes in incentive point distribution according to Fernandez.
Hudson had multiple explanations for the participation boost.
“This year has been a lot more attended than previously,” said Hudson. “Fifty to sixty people come consistently. We plan awesome projects, and people realize it looks good on resumes. It is just something good to do.”
Waking up early on a Saturday morning may not appeal to all, but the end result is one that keeps the students who do take part coming back.
“I love to serve,” said Hudson. “I found it as a great opportunity to further the relationship with the university and the community.”
Both NSCS and SAB encourage ISU-affiliated individuals, along with community members, to submit their Service Saturday ideas.
“We are always open for suggestions for locations on and off of the university that need help,” said Hudson. “We have a list of people available on Saturdays, but there are more we do not know about.”
“We try to change up the locations as much as possible,” said Fernandez.
Getting to the service projects can be made possible for those without their own form of transportation.
“Generally we provide two to three ISU vehicles to transport those in need of transportation,” said Hudson.
Many students also carpool to the locations in their own vehicles.
Prospective volunteers and those interested in submitting service ideas for upcoming projects can do so by emailing ude.usinull@bas.
