By 11 a.m. Saturday more than 100 students had packed The Gathering Place at Norris University Center to volunteer for the third-annual OASIS Outreach Day, a community service event that sends volunteers to help at 10 local service organizations.
“We just want to create awareness, because it’s easy to go to school, go to class, hang out with your friends and not think about people who live in poverty or people who are less advantaged than we are,” said Janice Hsu, OASIS president.
Hsu, a Weinberg senior, said the event was mostly aimed at people who did not regularly volunteer with OASIS.
“It’s hard to do it if you don’t do it regularly. Some people can only come once a month,” Hsu said, describing Outreach Day as “kind of less committal.”
Half the event’s attendees do not normally volunteer with OASIS, and many came as members of different organizations, according to Hsu.
“A huge chunk of the people coming were Greeks,” she said. “Different organizations are probably pulling in about 30 to 40 percent of the people coming.”
Registration almost doubled this year to 128 online registrations on the day of the event, Hsu said. She said the higher turnout might result in greater involvement with OASIS.
“The ones who go to the sites we regularly go to — they tend to go back,” she said.
The event was partially sponsored by Illinois Campus Compact, an organization that seeks to promote social and civic awareness. The group sent students to sites ranging from Housing Opportunities and Maintenance for the Elderly to the David R. Lee Animal Care Center to Housing Options for the Mentally Ill.
Volunteers assisted in maintenance, food preparation and mentoring while interacting with children, animals and the elderly.
Weinberg freshman Nandita Batra spoke about her college experiences and applying to schools at Howard Area Community Center Teen REACH — a group that seeks to increase academic success and reduce risky behaviors such as substance abuse and criminal activities among teenagers. She said Outreach Day made her more aware of and thankful for her own opportunities.
“I realized how much there is to know about the college process and just how much we knew about it but took for granted,” Batra said.
Some volunteers said they were surprised at the tasks their outreach sites were assigned. Weinberg freshman Daniel Gabrieli helped strip the walls in preparation for repainting at the center for the Victor C. Neumann Association, a nonprofit organization that provides services to people with mental disabilities.
“I don’t think that was the best project,” Gabrieli said. “I don’t really see how different wallpaper is going to help people.”
Nevertheless, Gabrieli said he benefited from his experience.
“It’s going to make me appreciate sitting in class a lot more,” he said.
Weinberg senior Christine Cheng and other Cornerstone Community Outreach volunteers also were given an unexpected task. Instead of sorting clothes at the shelter, they spent most of their time chopping raw chicken. But Cheng said she did not mind the change in plans.
“When we walked in, you could see there were a lot of people sitting there, and you could tell that food was probably going to be cooked (that night),” she said.
OASIS Site Development Chair Kate Solinger said Outreach Day includes several sites not usually visited by OASIS and therefore produces unanticipated volunteer opportunities.
“They have much-needed maintenance that wouldn’t get done otherwise,” said Solinger, a McCormick junior. “When 20 of us show up to paint, that’s really helpful.”
Cheng, who occasionally volunteers at OASIS sites, said her new experience was educational.
“I think these kinds of days work because I wanted to try volunteering somewhere I’d never been,” she said.
