Journalism assistant professor Matt Merkel paints a sign during Day of Service.
As part of its
commitment to enhancing the communities of Salt Lake County, nearly 200 Salt
Lake Community College students, staff and faculty recently participated in the
school’s annual Day of Service. Volunteers donated a combined 450 hours at the
day-long event, which gave participants the option to provide service at 9
organizations located throughout the Salt Lake Valley.
For the event,
volunteers engaged in a variety of jobs, including meal preparation, reading
stories to children and general housekeeping. Service partners included
Esperanza Elementary School, Catholic Community Serivces, Maliheh Free Clinic,
Dual Immersion Academy, YMCA, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Youthlinc,
Clever Octopus and Bad Dog Arts.
The SLCC Day of
Service is organized by the college’s Thayne Center for Service & Learning.
The Thayne Center provides SLCC students, staff and faculty opportunities
throughout the year to engage with the community. Opportunities range from
mentoring youth in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program to providing
companionship for hospice patients. In 2018, 6,532 members of the SLCC
Community contributed more than 34,400 hours of service through the Thayne
Center.
“Community is the
most important word in our name, and we are proud to serve not only our
students but our fellow community members,” said Sean Crossland, director of
SLCC’s Thayne Center. “It’s great to work in a place where community is a part
of everything we do.”
In addition to providing
opportunities through its Thayne Center, SLCC also promotes community service
through its Community Engagement Leave (CEL) policy, which gives 3,000 college
employees 24 hours of paid leave per year for volunteer activities.
