Week long fair connects services with volunteers

Brian D. Rothschild Arizona Daily Wildcat Retail & consumer studies sophomore Robyn Stoller signs up to receive free information on local volunteer work available for interested students. Various agencies are promoting work focusing on "Youth and Poverty" this week in the Memorial Student Union's Rincon Room.

Fall Service Week, from Oct. 27-31, might be the personal ad both have been looking for.

The week of events and its partner, Spring Service Week, began four years ago on the University of Arizona campus to centralize volunteers and organizations, said Carri DeRose, Project Volunteer special events coordinator.

UA Americorps representative Samantha Sims said, "There are people on campus who are trying to make a difference."

But there is little cohesion between these students and organizations that need them, she added.

This fall's service week, which is focusing on "Youth and Poverty," began yesterday in the Memorial Student Union's Rincon Room.

Six agencies from around Tucson ran an informational meeting.

"These kids really like to see college students and people from outside their neighborhood," said Herman Thompson, program coordinator for the John A. Valenzuela Youth Center, which helps youth get out of gangs.

Thompson said the program used to have a lot of university volunteers, but numbers have fallen in the last few years.

He said he hoped to see more students volunteer through the session and the following week.

Joy Barr, of Tucson Centers for Women and Children, said she sees a wide range of volunteers from all over Tucson and is always happy to welcome those from the UA.

"This is a good event because those students who really want to be here are here," she said.

She added the meetings were going well and everyone who visited her table was responsive.

Dawn Miller, a sociology and nursing senior, said she heard about the CWC last year, but was unable to volunteer.

"I came in here looking for volunteer opportunities after I saw the sign downstairs," she said, adding that she planned to volunteer for the centers this semester.

Yet Monday's event was only the beginning of the week for Project Volunteer.

There will be a photo and information exhibit on the Mall on how students can help decrease poverty in Tucson today from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

During the same time tomorrow, students can make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the hungry.

Students can meet at the UA Associated Students Bookstore Thursday for a field trip to a victim crisis center and students can help children from the Arizona Children's Center go trick-or-treating and carve pumpkins on Friday.

DeRose said about 140 students had expressed interest to her before the event, and she expected a lot more interest as the week progressed.

"It is very important to expand student awareness to issues outside the university and generate interest in volunteerism," she said.