(Dec. 4, 2008) Santa’s helpers come in all sizes and shapes and on Dec. 3 they came together to create a better holiday for people in need. Students for Community Engagement, a tri-institutional student organization on the Auraria Campus affiliated with the University of Colorado Denver Experiential Learning Center and UC Denver Student Life, conducted a service event enabling Downtown Campus students to be creative in helping others.
Three service projects took place simultaneously at the Tivoli: making fleece baby blankets for Project Linus who will distribute them to the Children’s Hospital; knitting hats for the African Community Center, which provides educational and social services to African refugees in Denver; and decorating paper bags for carrying food for Project Angel Heart, which provides meals to people with life-threatening illnesses.
Because of the efforts of 26 students and five staff and faculty, six babies will be a little warmer; about seven heads will be protected from the elements and 25 people facing life-threatening illnesses will get cheerful, uplifting bags full of holiday goodies.
Participating students voiced not only enthusiasm for the event, but called for more like it. Kyra Tarbell, service learning graduate assistant, notes, “As I walked around and spoke with some many of the students, they expressed interest in future similar activities and to be involved more in planning service events on campus.”
Tarbell said many students felt organizations such as Students for Community Engagement, which focuses on providing volunteer outlets for students, are nearly absent on campus and that it was great to find organizations and events such as a stop and serve.
“The event attendance and number of projects completed show that even during very stressful and busy times, students can and want to make the time to do some good for others,” she stressed.
The center will be planning a service event to take place the end of January after students return from Winter Break. “We are hoping to make this a monthly event,” Tarbell says.
Photos: Above, UC Denver student Sydney Lawrence reads the directions on how to decorate holiday bags. At left, Kyra Tarbell, standing, gives knitting advice to student volunteers Angie Woehler, center, and Netti Bell.