230-plus volunteers serve 15 local organizations through 16th annual Day of Service

August 28, 2023

On Saturday, Aug. 26, more than 230 Columbus State University volunteers — a group comprised mostly of students but including faculty and staff — took to the community for the university’s 16th annual Day of Service. Busloads of volunteers pitched in at 15 west Georgia and east Alabama community sites in ways ranging from cleaning and organizing, to landscaping and painting.

Dr. Melissa Dempsey, director of Student Life & Development, explained that the annual activity helps both students native to or familiar with Columbus, and those new to the area, to gain better insights into how their service benefits our community.

“As one of our first university-wide student events each fall, our annual Day of Service strikes such an appropriate tone for both new and returning students,” she said. “In addition to instilling the value of service at such an early stage of the academic year, it — like so many of our other welcome back events — serves as a springboard for getting involved on campus and in the community.”

“Columbus and Columbus State are places where service is valued,” said Zachary Griffith (pictured), a senior biology major from Atlanta, who volunteered alongside his Servant Leadership program classmates in Fox Elementary School’s media center by reshelving library books, assembling manipulatives kits for STEM programs, and organize its audio-visual resources. “The community gives back and supports programs like ours, so it’s just natural that we [as students] give back our service and get involved.” 

“I love children and I know reading is important, so if we can help by sorting books and in any kind of way, I’m here for it,” said Mariah Lewis (pictured), a senior from Lawrenceville, Georgia, majoring in elementary education. “Volunteering has helped me with networking, making connections and building my leadership skills.”

Cortney Wilson, herself a two-time Columbus State graduate and now director of the William B. Turner Center for Servant Leadership, emphasized the Servant Leadership program operates at the intersection of education and service.

“There are a lot of places our students could be on a Saturday morning, but they are here because they understand the value of access to education for all students,” she said, explaining that much of the program’s year-round efforts focus on benefiting the community’s at-risk populations. “Our students are here because they know and understand the benefit their volunteering is going to have on these younger students.”

“So many members of the [Columbus] community support our team — this gives us a way of showing them how much we appreciate that support,” said Jillian Bretz (pictured), a sophomore from Cumming, Georgia, majoring in business and a shooting guard for the Women’s Basketball team.

Bretz’s coach, Matt Houser, sees service opportunities — including sorting and repackaging pet food for Paws Humane — as a ways of instilling teamwork while teaching his players about more than making plays on the court or shots at the basket.

“We all want to incorporate servant leadership into what we do as much as possible. It’s about giving back — we want to pay forward all that is given to us and our team. We want to teach them the importance of serving the community, so they are better people once they leave Columbus State,” he said. 

 

Other Day of Service sites included:

Columbus Area Habitat for Humanity, where volunteers sorted and cleaned household items.

Columbus High School, where volunteers (pictured) helped reshelve more than 10,000 books in the school’s media center following its summertime renovation.

The Columbus Museum, where volunteers assisted with landscaping the Bradley Olmsted Garden, pruning the garden’s azaleas and removing small trees.

Family House of West Georgia (formerly the Ronald McDonald House), where volunteers — including cadets from CSU’s ROTC “Cougar Battalion” — cleaned the playground and fences, and cleaned and painted the gazebo.

Feeding the Valley Food Bank, where the men’s and women’s Track & Field team helped unload, sorted and packed food for distribution to partner food pantries and organizations.

Girls Inc. of Columbus & Phenix-Russell, where volunteers — including students from Collegiate 100, Collegiate Women, the Future African American Healthcare Professionals Society, Honors College, and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc.’s Eta Theta Chapter — painted rooms, landscaped shrubs and flower beds, and assisted in the libraries at both of the program’s centers.

National Infantry Museum, where volunteers — including those from the American Chemical Society, Center for Global Engagement international students and Greek Life — cleaned the museum’s Vietnam Wall and Global War on Terrorism Memorial.

The Oaks at Grove Park, where the CSU Cheer team (pictured) colored with adult residents, cleaned wheelchairs and walkers, and helped with gardening and landscaping.

Oxbow Meadows Environmental Learning Center, one of the university’s educational outreach programs, where volunteers — including cadets from CSU’s ROTC “Cougar Battalion” — picked up litter on the site and spread mulch.

The Salvation Army, Columbus Corps, where Honors College volunteers sorted donated canned goods for its food pantry program.

Village Foster Care and Adoptive Ministry, where volunteers helped clean and organize clothes in the store.

YMCA of Metropolitan Columbus’ D.A. Turner location, where members of the Men’s Basketball team cleaned up the organization’s grounds and washed buses.

Collectively, university volunteers logged 438 volunteer hours on Saturday. At $29.67 per hour — the current value of volunteer time in Georgia as determined by the nonprofit Independent Sector — their service equated to a single-day monetary impact of more than $12,995 on these nonprofit and educational organizations.

This year’s Day of Service was made possible in part by community sponsors including Aramark, CSU’s Barnes & Noble Campus Bookstore, ColorMac, Columbus Water Works and Kinetic Credit Union. It is coordinated by the Office of Student Life & Development, which is part of the university’s Division of Student Affairs.

Notable media coverage:
Columbus State University pours into community for annual Day of Service (Aug. 27, 2023, WRBL-TV)

Media contact:
Michael Tullier, APR, Executive Director of Strategic Communication + Marketing, 706.507.8729, mtullier@columbusstate.edu