From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 5, the Student Alumni Association at the University will be hosting its annual iHelp day of service.
iHelp invites students, alumni and members of the Champaign-Urbana community to come together and dedicate a day to give back to local agencies and organizations.
“iHelp is cool because it’s the only event on campus that focuses on service but is also trying to get everyone from everywhere around campus all together,” said Marie Peters, junior in LAS and SAA’s vice president of outreach.
Peters’ job within SAA focuses on the organization’s service events, such as Illini Lights Out and managing the typical service hours of the active group members. However, iHelp is her position’s main event of the year.
She began planning this event in the middle of last May. Since the event aims to manage so many volunteers, Peters established a committee of seven co-directors in which she operates and delegates various tasks.
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The co-directors focus on four specific aspects of the service day. Two of them focus on alumni and campus outreach. The campus outreach co-directors target student and RSO participation, while the alumni outreach co-directors reach out to University alumni.
“I work with another co-director, and we have reached out to a bunch of alumni from the University trying to get them to come out and volunteer for the weekend or just help in whatever way they can,” said Rayhan Khaja, sophomore in LAS and one of the alumni outreach co-directors.
The third team of co-directors organizes the logistics, such as transportation, sign-ups and other behind-the-scenes work.
The fourth team of co-directors reaches out to the agencies the volunteers will aid.
On the actual day of iHelp, volunteers will meet at the Illini Union to connect with an SAA worker to be told their assigned agency where they will work a two-hour shift. Upon arrival at their designated locations, volunteers will be assigned various tasks and projects by the members of the agencies.
The number of agencies iHelp will send volunteers to has not yet been finalized. The current list of agencies includes Doctor Howard Elementary School, Strides Shelter, Champaign Havana & Western Railway Historical Society, Salt & Light Ministries, Krannert Art Museum, Allerton Park & Retreat Center, Greater Community AIDS Project and McKinley Giving Garden.
“We are still trying to finalize how many volunteers we are going to have because registration is still open, and we are probably going to keep it open until about a week before because we want to get as many people involved as possible,” Peters said.
SAA welcomes anyone to volunteer with different sign-ups available for individuals, groups, RSOs or organizations. Additionally, alumni who cannot be on campus the day of can volunteer virtually.
“The alumni can go to a food bank or somewhere by their house, say if they’re in California or wherever,” Peters said. “They just send us pictures, and we’ll send them the iHelp t-shirt. Just a sort of virtual iHelp since the point really is to honor a day of service in general.”
Excluding the 90 current members of SAA who will run the event or volunteer, there are over 250 volunteers currently signed up to participate in iHelp.
“I think that all the members of the community help the students live an easy life, and I think a day like this is important because I just want to be able to give back to those people,” said Isabella Villalobos, sophomore in ACES and alumni outreach co-director.
The collaborative effort of iHelp emphasizes the importance of students, alumni and community members joining together to unite in service while fostering a spirit of gratitude toward local agencies.
“This is their home, and it becomes our home too, and so I hope people want to help those … around us who sometimes go without thanks,” Villalobos said.
