Aug. 22 will mark the fifth annual Michigan State University Spartan Day of Service, a day in which hundreds of MSU Residence Education and Housing Services staff members and students come together to give back to the Greater Lansing area through volunteer work at multiple locations.
Volunteers will include REHS staff members and resident assistants as well as Office of Cultural and Academic Transitions intercultural aides. The ultimate goal of the event is to have students reconnect with the agency or site during the course of the school year.
“We are excited for the opportunity to serve the Greater Lansing area once again. During the last five years, we have had 500-plus team members work more than 15,000 hours serving more than 70 different agencies,” said Ray Gasser, interim director of REHS.
Throughout the day, volunteers will engage in a variety of tasks supporting public low-income housing, organizations battling homelessness and providing food assistance, children, animals and other nonprofits in the Lansing and East Lansing areas.
“Each year, this event allows our staff to think about life outside the walls of MSU from an intercultural, gender, social and economic lens,” said Joshua Gillespie, assistant director of residence education and organizer of the event. “This is always a special time for our students because they get to spend time in areas they may not regularly serve in. It is also a reminder that there are no special qualifications to serve.”
Volunteers will meet at The Rock on MSU’s campus on Farm Lane at 9 a.m. to hear remarks from speakers emphasizing the importance of the service projects for the day. Volunteers will then participate in breakout sessions and travel to volunteer sites.
The event is made possible with the help of REHS; Culinary Services; MSU Alumni Association; Dean Transportation; Office of Cultural and Academic Transitions; MSU’s Center for Service Learning and Civic Engagement; Lansing Public Housing; Lansing Human Relations and Community Services Department; Beekman Therapeutic Riding Center; Village Summit; Greater Lansing Food Bank; Volunteers of America; Haven House; EVE’s House; Edgewood Village; Preuss Pets; and Christo Rey Community Center.
To follow the activities happening throughout the fifth Annual MSU Day of Service, visit “MSULiveOn” on Twitter and Instagram and follow the hashtag #DayOfServiceMSU to join the conversation.
REHS is a department of the Division of Residential and Hospitality Services at MSU.