The Volunteer Center has returned to the East Madison Community Center to continue a tradition started last year. The student volunteers participate in a series of service opportunities that help children from ages five to 12.

The relationship between the Volunteer Center and the community center was bonded by chance and circumstance, according to Spencer White, head of student volunteers. The community center kids went to a play at Madison Area Technical College. After that, the student volunteers started a working relationship with the community center, which is near the Truax campus.

“We needed to find service work on the fly, so we just walked over,” White said. “They put us right to work.”

Immediately, it was well received, according to White. It was a project that continued for six weeks. The volunteer center regularly has five to 10 students that help out during these events. It did not take long for the volunteers to see what importance the center has on the community, particularly the area surrounding Truax.

“I think this community center really saved this area,” White said. “The kids here are really special and so is the staff.”

During the times that they will be at the community center, the volunteers purchase and serve food for the children. On Feb. 15, volunteers prepared spaghetti and meat sauce for the children. Other meals have been discussed including teriyaki chicken.

“We’ll try to give them something as healthy as we can,” White said. “We want to give them at least a fruit or vegetable, a carb, and a protein.”

After the food is served and the meal is done, the volunteers go to a gymnasium in the community center and play games with the children. The children and the volunteers play games such as basketball and volleyball.

“They love it and they always beat us,” White said. “No, seriously, we try and they really beat us.”

The driving aspect of the community center is the children and making sure they do indeed love the experience. The kids are disadvantaged coming from a low-income area. Despite going through rough times, they are good kids, according to the volunteers. They even go as far as helping the volunteers clean up after dinner.

“I really like the kids here. They are a bunch of little roughnecks,” White said. “They’re fun. They have a lot of personality.”

Mike Jackson, lead youth worker, and the community center strive to set up a good foundation for the kids and to lead by example. He has been a part of the community center for six years. Giving back to the community is important for Jackson. He regularly sees 25-45 kids participate in the programs at the community center. He has six children, five sons and one daughter, who participate in the activities at the community center. He understands the struggles the kids go through when they experience the perils of poverty and wants to set up a good foundation for the children.

“I grew up in low income neighborhoods. I’m from the north side of Chicago,” Jackson said. “I stayed in the Cabrini-Green housing project and stayed in humble parts.”

Cabrini-Green was a housing development between the Lincoln Park and the Gold Coast neighborhoods of northern Chicago. Cabrini-Green was long associated to poverty before the project started to be demolished in 1996.

White and the student volunteers would like to see this project be expanded, but they are restricted on funds and would be unable to buy meals every week for them. However, they are thinking about having the volunteers go there just to help out.

“We’d like to have this expanded,” White said. “I’d love to see it every week. I think it takes a nice relief to the community center.”

Jackson continues to encourage people to come out and volunteer at the community center.

“Some of the volunteers come every day just to come and help out anyway they can,” Jackson said. “Some of them just love the place because as soon as you come through the door, you feel the hospitality that the staff at the EMCC (East Madison Community Center) shows.”

This year’s initiative with the community center started on Feb. 15. It will continue every Tuesday until March 22.