A Relay for Life table as well as a Red Cross table were just two of the many volunteers present at the VT Engage kick-off that took place in October.
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Students, faculty and staff members participating in VT Engage will soon have pledged 100,000 volunteer hours in an effort to memorialize the victims of April 16 through community service.
The overall goal for the university is 300,000 community service hours, alongside a second 300,000 hours pledged by the alumni association.
VT Engage was established to help promote healing and the memorializing of those students lost on April 16. The project officially went underway in October, with the university community and alumni pledging a total of 600,000 total service hours before the end of the spring semester. Though the deadline continues to be the end of the semester, VT Engage coordinator Karen Gilbert has a different goal in mind.
"I'd like to see us reach these goals by April 16 so we can officially dedicate all of the hours of service in honor of those that we lost," Gilbert said. "It will be a fitting tribute to be able to give to the families of those lost, since so many were performing community service all around the world."
While the calendar halfway point has since passed, Gilbert does not feel that the target date of completion is unattainable. Though she would like to be further along, she remains optimistic.
"We are about 50,000 hours short of where I'd like to be now," Gilbert said. "I'm encouraged by all the people that have contacted me and said they are doing the hours but haven't recorded it. It's a certainly good problem to have that people are doing thousands of hours of service that are not recorded yet."
Mark McNamee, university provost, offered a differing opinion on the current number of hours pledged.
"Every little bit helps," McNamee said. "My view is that it is what it is. Whatever anyone does is going to be positive. It's interesting to set targets, but the reality is that every bit helps and it's all successful or important in its own way. The more the better."
Among the possible reasons for the low number of hours submitted so far is a lack of knowledge of what qualifies as service and participants struggling to find a community event that interests them.
"People aren't sure what qualifies for volunteer work for VT Engage," Gilbert said. "Anything works. Whether you are helping a group with a fundraiser or serving on a board. All volunteer work that you are doing to serve others, including animals, counts as hours for VT Engage."
In addition to the various hours that have been pledged, served, but not yet recorded by students, Gilbert noted that several specific groups will have a significant impact on the number of hours completed.
"The Virginia Tech Rescue Squad does 100,000 hours of community service alone," Gilbert said. "None of that is recorded yet. We also have some retired alumni that have not submitted the 40 to 50 hours per week they have served."
Sam Albimino, the associate vice president for Alumni Relations, noted another possible explanation for the lack of hours submitted by alumni.
"From an alumni perspective, community service is a very personal thing," Albimino said. "Community service is being performed throughout the United States by our alumni chapters. VT Engage is trying to instill community service into the Hokie Nation and get people or alumni to document it. It is more a symbolic gesture. Some people do not feel they want to document it, because it is their civic duty and commitment to Ut Prosim. The program is being successful, though it may not be documented as so at this point."
As the goal deadline approaches, there are still numerous community outlets in search of volunteers. Each day, VT Engage highlights different service projects that can be signed up for. In addition to on-campus work, there are currently plans for two trips to the Appalachian Mountains, planned by Renee and Brian Cloyd, parents Austin Cloyd, to help families in the mountains make their homes warmer, safer and dryer.
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As the pain/shock of April 16th starts to fade with the passage of time, so will the feeling of volunteerism amongst many of the students. VT Engage is a noble cause, but they have to realize that getting volunteerism is a tough thing to do in today's multi-tasking, overbooked world.
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When I began looking for a way to contribute to VT-Engage it donned on me that I volunteer all the time without realizing it. That is probably the same for most VT Alum. Think of all the parents that volunteer on school PTA boards, who answer phones in schools, who volunteer in the classrooms. Many of us volunteer at our churches working with the homeless, teaching religious education/bible study classes. We give rides to those going through medical treatments. We fix meals for families going through difficult times or who have lost loved ones. These are just a few of the volunteer activities that I and many others perform everyday but don't consider it worthy of publication. Yes we are an overbooked and multi-tasked society, but somehow we find ways to help others even while working full-time jobs and raising families. It's just something that you're supposed to do. I believe that VT-Engage will make students aware of the responsiblity that we have to help one another whether in a big way or a small way. For many of us graduates volunteering has become so much a part of who we are that we don't give it a second thought and most certainly don't want someone to applaud it. If nothing else, VT-engage will make current VT students aware of possiblities for their futures. They may not jump on a volunteer bandwagon the minute they graduate, but somehow it will become a part of their everyday life; and they won't even realize it until they look back. Now that is something that is worth applauding.
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