Over winter break, Madison College volunteers gave back to the local community through various activities run by the Volunteer Center. This year Winter Break Volunteer Week ran from Jan. 8-12, just before the start of the spring semester.
The Volunteer Center engaged with four local organizations during the week: Neighborhood House Community Center, East Madison Community Center, Second Harvest Food Bank and Free Bikes 4 Kidz.
However, due to inclement weather and heavy snow on Jan. 9 and 12, service opportunities with East Madison Community Center and Free Bikes 4 Kidz were cancelled.
In past years, the Volunteer Center had opportunities to partner with out-of-state organizations for some of their alternative break programs, but this year the Volunteer Center prioritized giving back to the local Madison-area community.
Alex Kaiser, Volunteer Center Executive Director and Coordinator for this year’s Volunteer Week, said that humans require connection, which is why he made efforts to seek and establish connections with Madison-based community organizations to make life better for the people.
“As community college students, we are benefiting greatly from this community, and that’s also why it’s important to give back,” Kaiser said. “I want to support the community that supports me, I want to make friends, I want a sense of purpose, and volunteering in this community allows me to accomplish all that,” he said.
The events that Kaiser planned included easy tasks, including cleaning, organizing inventory and sorting food items at a distribution center. While the tasks were simple in nature, the impact was larger and a result of collective action that many students contributed towards by working together.
The Neighborhood House offers an in-person food pantry, winter coats to stay warm and youth and teen programming, among a variety of other options. So, naturally, service work at the Neighborhood House on Jan. 8 was widespread, including deep cleaning of the programming area as well as organizing donated food, clothing, and other life essentials to be distributed to members of the community.
At the Second Harvest Food Bank, students sorted approximately 3,500 pounds of frozen food into boxes to be distributed to local food pantries, including Madison College’s food pantry. The Second Harvest Food Bank relies on food donations and volunteers to help them prepare and distribute almost 20 million pounds of food across 16 Wisconsin counties each year.
On Jan. 11, volunteers remained on the Truax Campus to write letters to Wisconsin representatives about bills that have recently passed. This gave students the opportunity to learn about bills and policies that will affect them and to practice sharing their voices with people in power.
Overall, the Volunteer Center was impressed with the turnout for Winter Break Volunteer Week. Scarlet Martino, the new Student Program Advisor for the Volunteer Center, said volunteering is one of the most important things you can do because, in her words, it gives back to everyone, including yourself.
“I think the most wonderful part of being a human is connecting with others and finding community” Martino said. “Volunteering is a way to connect with your community, create sustainable change and collaboratively shape our world.”
To get involved in future volunteer opportunities run by the Volunteer Center, contact Kaiser and Martino at the Volunteer Center [email protected] to join them for future events.