National Volunteer Week will begin this Sunday as agencies and communities across the country come together to help those in need.

And the University, along with local communities, plan to promote the importance of coming together to support each other — even ahead of schedule. Organizations and agencies will participate in Champaign-Urbana’s first annual community and campus Day of Service on Saturday, a day before National Volunteer Week will begin.

Vaneitta Goines, program advisor for the Office of Volunteer Programs, said her organization regularly plans events to engage students, faculty and staff in the local community for National Volunteer Week. This year, Goines said the office has taken on a project to package 146,000 meals to feed central Illinois families in the ARC and Ikenberry Commons on Saturday.

The meal packaging plan was developed with the help of the registered student organization Illini Fighting Hunger and the National Soybean Research Laboratory on campus. Originally, OVP worked with an organization that brought in food from outside local communities, but the office acknowledged that option’s high cost.

“Our reaction was, ‘If we’re paying so much money to bring in food from out of state, there has got to be a better way to produce food for our communities,’” Goines said. “Thankfully, we’ve been able to stage the event for much less cost than it normally would be … more of the donated dollars and food items can go directly to the people in need instead of paying for shipping items from Florida.”

OVP’s meal packaging plan will happen in conjunction with Austin’s Day of Service, another local volunteering event. Todd Salen, the co-founder of Austin’s Day, said the annual event is eponymously named after Austin Cloyd, a Champaign native who was killed in the Virginia Tech shooting. Salen said Cloyd stood out in the community, and her death took a heavy toll on everyone.

“Austin was an amazing public servant who loved to volunteer and do all kinds of things,” Salen said. “A student came up to me several days after she died with an idea that, instead of inventing a scholarship or planting a tree, we should just go out and serve the community in her name.”

Saturday signals the sixth anniversary of Austin’s Day, and Salen said projects this year will encompass a number of activities outside of the food packaging on campus. This is in effort to provide more volunteer opportunities in the C-U area for the first annual Day of Service. Several agencies that will offer volunteer opportunities include Habitat for Humanity, C-U Public Health, the Neighborhood Action Committee and the Humane Society, among many others.

Several Greek organizations at the University will participate in Austin’s Day activities as well. Celeste Niemann, vice president of service for Panhellenic Council and junior in LAS, said the annual Day of Service will provide a unique opportunity for Greek members to volunteer off-campus.

“Greeks typically face a stereotype where they only help out within their own personal philanthropies, and we wanted to challenge that and show we care about the community outside the University,” Niemann said.

Niemann and other Greek members will travel to a farm 15 miles off campus on Saturday to help with manual labor. Niemann said she has participated in Austin’s Day individually for the past two years, and hopes that other Greek members will share her enthusiasm.

Outside of Austin’s Day and the meal packaging plan, Greek organizations will also keep themselves busy this weekend through their own activities. Niemann said Shi-Ai, a Panhellenic honors society, will clean up Frat Park on Sunday. Andy Kessler, philanthropy chair of Kappa Sigma and freshman in Engineering, said his fraternity will clean up all of Daniel Street.

Salen and Goines said the number of volunteers have risen in recent years. But with 40,000 students on campus, Goines said she hopes to see more student volunteers reach out in the future.

“A lot of people mistakenly believe that they have to choose between volunteering in something that’s more directly beneficial to their career goals, and that’s not true,” Goines said. “There are so many transferable skills that employers are looking for that you can learn through volunteering, like communications and leadership skills that would be valuable for any incoming employee.”

The Annual Day of Service has over 1,200 students, faculty and staff registered to package meals, Goines added. But she emphasized that anyone can still register for the event or volunteer for any opportunities this weekend or throughout National Volunteer Week.

Goines encouraged everyone to access the Office’s online listserv and C-U Volunteer website for future volunteer opportunities both on and off campus.

Amruta Yelamanchili, senior at Centennial High School and president of the school’s Interact Club, said that a large number of high school students turn out every year for Austin’s Day. 

The day of service is also the biggest event of the year for Yelamanchili’s club, and she said she is happy to see students come together.

“Austin’s Day is a great way to make something good out of a terrible tragedy,” Yelamanchili said. “Now, with several other events that will be happening this weekend, people can make a difference in so many ways.”

Adlai can be reached at [email protected].