VOLUME 9, ISSUE 5
September, 2008

A newsletter for supporters and volunteers of community service, highlighting service news and events in the Plymouth, NH and Plymouth State University communities.

"Service Spotlight" is a production of the Community Service Center at Plymouth State University.

BY by: Maureen Rowe

How many students want to come to school a week early to do community service? Students who want to start off their year at PSU by trying to make a difference. The Community Service Orientation, led by Linda Corriveau, was a week long experience that twenty-one first years and five student leaders participated in a week prior to the start of school. The week was spent getting to know campus, helping out the community, and most importantly getting to know each other. It was the perfect balance of bonding with fellow PSU students and bonding with the community.

Through out the week the group lent a helping hand in a variety of different services: helping out at the Senior Center, trail clean up, helping build a set for The Polar Express, painting, and many other clean-up jobs .The most rewarding experience I had all week was the beach clean-up in Portsmouth, NH. We spent a few hours at the beach cleaning up the beaches, and digging through seaweed to find buried trash. We gathered over one hundred pounds of trash just at two beaches.
CSO was the perfect way to be welcomed not only at PSU but, also be greeted into the Plymouth community. I felt reenergized to give back to different communities around New Hampshire. CSO is something I will even be interested in help organizing someday. The memories of CSO will help start a long list of service memories her at PSU. CSO also helped me get involved with other community service activities and organizations around campus.

• Red Cross Blood Drive
  • Monday, October 20th-Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 2:00pm-7:00pm HUB MPR
• Angel Tree Project (All in the Fireplace Lounge)
  • Wednesday, November 19th-Friday, November 21st 2008 10:00am-3:00pm
  • Monday, November 24th 2008 10:00am-3:00pm
  • Monday, December 1st– Tuesday December 2nd 2008 10:00am-3:00pm

The Angel Tree Project will be collecting names of area youth to provide gifts for this holiday season.  Area agencies identify youth who will benefit from the project. Last year, the PSU community provided gifts for 343 area youth.
Angels will be available in the Fireplace Lounge on November 19 - 21 & 24th as well as December 2nd and 3rd from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. each day.
Individuals or groups can adopt an angel and return gifts to HUB 123 between December 3rd and December 12th.  Help bring a little magic to a child's holiday!

This spring break, March 14th-22nd 2008, three groups of students will leave Plymouth New Hampshire and go to three
different sites in three states for a week of community service.
The coordinators for these trips are:
Laura Mulvey: lmmulvey@plymouth.edu
Emma Beseday: erbeseda@plymouth.edu
Meaghan Bixby: mlbixby@plymouth.edu
Kim Wall: kmwall@plymouth.edu
Laura Mulvey and Emma Beseday will be traveling down to Biloxi Mississippi to take part in habitat for humanity. Megan Bixby will be down in Louisiana, also taking part in Habitat for Humanity. Lastly, Kim Wall will be traveling to North Carolina and helping to save the sea turtles.

Are you looking for something to do on the weekends? Want to get out of your room, off campus, and make new friends? Then sign up to be apart of Community Service Saturdays! We’re looking to get a car load of people various Saturdays throughout the year to go and help out the Plymouth community as well as other area communities.

Mark your calendars!
Our upcoming dates are:
October 25, 2008 , November 15, 2008, and
December 6, 2008

Some service opportunities we are looking at right now are:
Girls Inc. of New Hampshire
The Friendly Kitchen
The Nature Conservancy
Trail cleanups
Pemi youth center

If you have any ideas of your own or know of any places that are looking to get some volunteers please let us know!

You can contact me with any questions or ideas at ceschultz1@plymouth.edu or 908-752-0680

Watch for signups coming soon!

October 20th and 21st 2008 We need volunteers and donors! Volunteers are needed 1:30pm-9:00pm each day. Sign ups for volunteer shifts will begin October 14th-17th Donor’s and volunteers will receive a free Red Sox t-shirt for their time!

BY Caitlin Lowe

The Social Work Club is off to a great start this year. We have many exciting activities and events planned. On Tuesday, September 30th, the club is hosting an “Obama blue day” in the HUB. We will be helping to get the word out to students and staff about Presidential candidate Barack Obama, voting, etc. Two weeks from now, we will be participating and helping out in the candle light vigil helping raise awareness to domestic and sexual abuse, hosted by Voices Against Violence. New this year, we will be sending four seniors to a conference on Social Work Education in Pennsylvania, where we will volunteer as well as attend workshops. A few of the club members also participated in the walk to fight cancer a week ago.

Each year there are many other events that the club helps to host and or participate in. The Plymouth Regional Senior Center is one of our biggest annual projects, in which we host a themed dance with entertainment for the area’s elderly. We also collaborate with the Pemi Youth Center, planning activities such as a coffee house and Halloween dance. Some of our other events include helping out in the clothes line project, as well as the hunger and homelessness week. At the end of each school year, the National Association of Social Workers hosts a New Hampshire chapter dinner in which we attend. The club is very excited and looking forward to another great year, with some great members.

If you have any questions about The Social Work club or would like to get involved contact Caitlin Lowe at cmlowe@plymouth.edu

PSU volunteers next meeting with be on September 29, 2008 at 7pm in room 109 of the HUB
Not a member but would like to sign up? Here are some upcoming events that are in need of volunteers:

• The Pemi Youth Center is looking for regular volunteers whenever you can spare some time.
• October 4th Leadership Conference in Concord- If Linda can get 9 people then she will rent a van to go. It will be an all day event, aprx 7:30-4:30. $8 per person, and lunch is provided. There will be workshops and opportunities to meet other students and hear about their school orgs.
• October 25, 2008 Squam Lakes Hoot and Howl- Wear your Halloween costume and assist with tours and Halloween events at Squam Lakes Science Center.

For any additional information about the events or to sign up for the events above please e-mail President Kim Wall at, kmwall@plymouth.edu

I hope that everyone had an amazing summer and is having a good start to the semester. To the freshman class and transfer students, let me extend a big welcome to you all! As the first semester began you are probably all a little overwhelmed with your new schedules. New classes, homework, different professors, a new found freedom, and new friends. It’s a good thing to get involved in college doing things that you enjoy doing. There are so many great clubs and sports here at PSU to get involved in that it’s hard to not do anything. Plymouth State Volunteers is a great organization on campus to get involved in! We are dedicated to serving the community within which we live. Our mission is to connect students, faculty and staff with service opportunities in Plymouth and surrounding communities. PSU volunteers sponsors many service projects in which anyone can sign up for. If you’re interested in getting involved with the volunteers or are just looking for something to do one weekend, stop by and check out the great upcoming projects we have scheduled this year, they are going to be a lot of fun! Good luck to you all and we hope to see you stop by soon!

-Christine Schultz