Despite rain, snow and 30-degree weather, 120 Boston University students participated the fifth annual Celebration of Service on Saturday by volunteering at one of many locations around Boston.
Students volunteered at 16 different locations, including Brighton High School and Franklin Park.
The event, organized by the Student Activities Office in conjunction with the Community Service Center, began at 8:30 a.m. and ended at 7 p.m. Provost Dennis Berkey and former State Senator Warren Tolman’s Chief of Staff William D. Luzier, Jr. spoke to the volunteers before they began the day of service and leadership activities.
Berkey said he and the BU administration were proud of the event and its volunteers, calling BU students exceptional individuals.
‘This event and its volunteers demonstrate a high level of intellectual commitment and growing sense of community,’ Berkey said. ‘You are building BU into a stronger, more satisfying community for all of us.’
Quoting Henry David Thoreau, Berkey told the student body it is important to live every day of their lives as responsible, active members of their community.
‘It matters not so much what kind of ballot you drop into the box every year,’ he said, ‘but the kind of person you drop into the streets every day.’
Luzier said it is important to be an active citizen, especially during times of trouble and war, recalling his experiences as a student.
‘When I was in college, it was also a time of turmoil,’ Luzier said. ‘The country was at war and I looked for things to do to serve my community.’
Luzier, who was a member of a draft resistance union and a food co-op, said even war protesters benefited their community back then. He said community service is important for both volunteers and the community.
‘The service is important don’t judge what people do,’ said Luzier. ‘The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.’
After the morning speeches, students spent approximately five hours doing volunteer work. They returned to the GSU with stories about their experiences. Most students said they were glad to have done a good deed for their community.
College of General Studies freshmen Clara Herrero and Kaitlin Ambrogio, who volunteered at the Hammond Pointe Rehabilitation and Skilled Care Center, said they enjoyed the time they spent assigned to Alzheimer’s patients and were thinking of volunteering there regularly after their experiences Saturday.
‘They were all loving,’ said Ambrogio. ‘One patient kept saying over and over how glad she was that we were there.’
Herrero and Ambrogio said some of the patients had at one time been well-known Boston citizens. One man was ‘a famous lawyer’ and a swing dancer; another woman was ‘a famous choreographer,’ they said.
Jacob Harris, a graduate of BU who has been recognized for his devotion to community service, ended the evening by urging the volunteers to remain hopeful and focused on improving their community.
‘Social change is a possibility, but it takes time,’ he said. ‘Don’t overburden yourself, and don’t give up.’
SAO Programs Coordinator Eric Miller and CSC intern Jacque Caglia, the two main coordinators of the event, said they were pleased with the turnout of ‘strong volunteers.’
The organizers said their goals of fostering relationships with service sites, generating leadership skills in the students and exposing students to volunteering opportunities had been met.
‘This event gave students a chance to see parts of Boston they wouldn’t have otherwise,’ Miller said.
Caglia agreed, saying many students live a relatively sheltered life, never realizing there is more off Commonwealth Avenue.
‘If you don’t step off the B line, you don’t know what Boston is really like,’ he said.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
