UNIVERSITY PARK – Penn State service leaders on the Council of LionHearts, in partnership with the Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Council, have coordinated a day of service March 1 to provide students with a free alternative to drinking and to make a positive contribution within the surrounding community.
This event acts as a symbol of support for the local community on State Patty’s Day, an event that brings excessive drinking and community disruption. As an alternative, State Day of Service will provide students with a variety of service opportunities that allow them to give back to, and connect with, local community members. The hope is that students will participate in activities that make Penn State proud and inspire them to engage in future service projects.
State Day of Service will consist of more than 25 different service opportunities. Some students will be doing service as early as Friday (Feb. 28), while the majority of people will be meeting Saturday morning (March 1) at 9 a.m. in Heritage Hall or Freeman Auditorium. Students will have the opportunity to participate in service projects ranging from working outside at the Arboretum and cleaning the streets downtown to volunteering at a shelter for retired racing greyhounds. The event is free and open to all students. To sign up, students should visit http://volunteer.psu.edu. The first 1,000 to sign up will receive a free drawstring bag.
This will be the fourth year that the Council of LionHearts coordinates an alternative to the student-created drinking holiday. However, the goal remains the same: to provide meaningful service activities in the State College area and show the community what it really means to be a Penn Stater. To track progress and reflections throughout the day, volunteers will be asked to tweet from their service locations using #SDOS2014.
The Penn State Council of LionHearts, established in 2004, is a student organization comprised of service representatives from Penn State’s most active service organizations. For additional information, visit here. For additional information about IFC, visit pennstateIFC.org. For more information about the Panhellenic Council, visit pennstatePHC.org.
