DEREKH FROUDE/Arizona Daily Wildcat Pre-business junior, Breanna Weeks, pots some flowers on the mall yesterday for spring service week.

Spring Service Week reveals the ease of community service

Five minutes is all it takes to make a difference in the community.

That is the message Project Volunteer members hope to convey in this year's Spring Service Week.

"The whole purpose of Spring Service Week is to provide five to 10 minute service projects for UA students who might not experience these things otherwise," said Greg Billings, director of Project Volunteer, a program run through the University Activities Board.

The group designed projects that students can complete between classes like decorating ornaments for the elderly residents of Life Care Center.

Today, student volunteers will have the opportunity to write messages inside more than 150 donated children's books in a project called "Libros para los ni–os." The books will be sent to a school for children with disabilities in Sonora, Mexico.

Rich Hopkins and Luminarios, a local bluegrass band comprised partly of members in Tucson's homeless community, will play in the Cellar Restaurant from noon to 1 p.m. to benefit Casa Maria Soup Kitchen and raise awareness about hunger issues.

Many of this week's activities were built around a hunger awareness theme, Billings said. For example, Project Volunteer will collect canned food all week and invite students to sign a fasting contract designed by the Tucson Community Food Bank.

Fasting can help to open students' eyes to the realities of hunger, Billings said.

Tomorrow's project will be "Stuffin' Eggs," an Easter egg hunt on campus for local elementary school students.

"It's so cool. There is so much creativity in what we can do (with these projects)," Billings said.

Yesterday, students decorated pots and planted flowers to be delivered to the Brewster Center and the House of Neighborly Service, while the SafeRide Express Shuttle took students from Old Main to the Tucson Community Food Bank on tours.

"I'm thrilled. Any kind of use we can get out of it, we might as well use it for something good," said Jered Mansell, ASUA administrative vice president whose efforts played a large role in the creation of the express shuttle.

On Tuesday, more than 35 students donated blood to United Blood Services. The blood is the first to be part of a shipment sent to the Middle East, where United Blood Services will serve as the main supplier of blood for America's armed forces, Billings said

"People seem to be enjoying themselves," Billings said.

The activities will wrap up Tuesday with a Hunger Banquet featuring speeches by political science professor John Scwharz and Brian Flagg from Casa Maria. The free dinner event, which is intended to raise student awareness of worldwide hunger and poverty issues, will be held in the Student Union Memorial Center's Grand Ballroom North.

For more information about Spring Service Week, or to register for the banquet, contact the Center for Student Leadership and Involvement at 621-8046.