Mass Impact Day of Service

The 2015 Mass Impact Day of Service will be held on Saturday, September 26th. Volunteer Registration is now open on the UMass CALLS Campus Pulse page . https://umassamherst.collegiatelink.net/organization/volunteerumass

For more information, interested Volunteers and interested community partners can contact Boone Shear at bshear@sacl.umass.edu

Mass Impact is a one-day event during which UMass students, staff, faculty, and alumni contribute their time and energy to a host of organizations and projects—from cleaning-up public parks to digging garden beds; from serving food in community kitchens to moving debris for social justice organizations, and from organizing public libraries to painting the office walls of environmental justice non-profits.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhotx4wtNN8[/youtube]

At UMass CALLS, we view Mass Impact as one way to extend and deepen university and community relationships.

The day is an opportunity for students, staff, and faculty to provide a valuable resource to community organizations, to learn more about the communities that UMass is situated in and connected to, and to learn about the importance of community service through practice.

For community partners, Mass Impact is an opportunity to mobilize student volunteers for projects large and small; in previous years, community partners have worked with as few as 1 and as many as 80 student-volunteers in their projects. Just as importantly, it’s also an opportunity for community partners to teach students about the importance of their work and perhaps forge ongoing relationships. Indeed, we would very much like community partners to set-aside time for an orientation—not just an orientation to the project at hand, but an orientation to the work of the organization itself.

Finally, we encourage community partners and student groups to propose their own projects. Perhaps you are a musical group and would like to provide a service through performance. Maybe you are a sports team, and would like to host a free clinic that is open to the public. Or perhaps you are a group of artists who knows of an organization or community that desires a mural? Please feel free to propose the projects and we will work with you to help organize and provide resources.

To participate in Mass Impact as a volunteer, as a community partner, or if you would like to propose a project, please contact Boone Shear, bshear@sacl.umass.edu.