Sally Bull / SPPSA 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.

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.

Also approaching are two large-scale university projects, Relay for Life and The Big Event. Organizers of Relay for Life hope to have Tech's chapter be the largest relay at any university in the country. The Big Event, hosted by the SGA, serves as a "thank you" to the New River Valley for hosting the campus. This year's Big Event will likely be even larger than last year's, in which more than 3,000 students, faculty, and staff members participated in over 450 service projects.

In addition to the projects participated in locally, all of Tech's 111 alumni chapters will be participating in a blood drive in April, among other service projects.

"Part of the alumni charters are to perform community service," Albimino said. "At the bowl game in Miami the alumni association led a VT Engage service project of replanting a garden in a historic part of town that needed attention. It's a part of our everyday language here and is being fully embraced."

The VT Engage program is already being planned for a second year.

"My goal next year is to increase involvement," Gilbert said. "I think one of the ways to gauge success is not by the hours, but by getting those involved who have never done it before. Success is matching volunteers with organizations that need help, and establishing a relationship between the two. We're hoping then that our volunteers will continue to serve."

VT Engage representatives will be present from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Yorktown and Jamestown rooms of Squires on Thursday, Jan. 24, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Squires Commonwealth Ballroom on Friday, Jan. 25.

These representatives will provide information about service projects that students can participate in. Among the activities offered are making get well cards for ill children at the Roanoke Ronald McDonald house. Students can also make hats for children at St. Jude hospital and write stories for children living in impoverished countries.

Hours are entered into the system through the VT Engage Web site. There are no requirements for authorized supervisors to verify hours, as students are essentially on the honor system when submitting their work. Hours can either be submitted in bulk, such as for a month or semester, or individually for single days or projects.