By Sophie Weinstein, ’13, Contributor
In the past, students have worried about finding interesting volunteer opportunities, but now with UGive going live at CCDS there’s a vast number of service options available at the click of a button. Dean of Service Learning Ms. Deborah Floyd said “Students always ask me how they can find opportunities to serve. In the past we relied on people sending us e-mails with service opportunities, but now we have both the e-mails and all the service opportunities in the Cincinnati area.”
Emily Grupp, ’11, head of the community service club and member of the UGive Hall of Fame thinks the new process of UGive online will make it “easier to find community service opportunities and to track hours.” Finding a service project that satisfies different peoples’ interests can be difficult, but now with UGive, everyone can find the right serving opportunities for them that are fun and satisfy the CCDS community service requirement.
Joining in on UGive projects is perhaps simpler and easier than filling out the paperwork from outside service opportunities for Ms. Floyd. Grupp said the “best way is to just jump in. Everyone [at UGive] is really friendly and helps you out to get involved. I started by doing an internship with UGive last summer where I learned about public relations and how to plan large scale community service events.”
Mackenzie Levine, ’13, says “I have so much fun riding and being around horses, so when I heard about this program CTRH (Cincinnati Therapeutic Riding and Horsemanship) and how it helps kids with mental and physical challenges learn to ride, I knew that I had to participate. My time spent with these kids has been a great experience.” So whether or not you enjoy being around horses or playing sports, you can search for opportunities in any specific areas of interest on the UGive website. These areas of interest include Life and Environment, Arts and Culture, Health and Human Services, and Education.
Through the massive amount of agencies that are part of the UGive website, students will be able to find something so compelling that the 90 hour requirement no longer becomes a requirement. Ms. Floyd said that “The ultimate goal is to connect students with an agency that becomes possibly a lifetime commitment.”
Jules Cantor, ’11, thinks that the UGive website going live is “a change for the better. It ends a lot of the confusion on how many hours a given student has and is a significantly more organized system.”
Caroline Gentile, ’13, added, “The UGive website makes it easy for me to find more opportunities to serve and I am really excited about the website going live.”
Photo courtesy of UGive.org
