Students gathered together making cat and dog toys and nursing home decor to support charities around the Cedar Valley at the Service Project Night on April 12 as part of National Volunteer Week.

According to the Points of Light website, the purpose of National Volunteer Week “is about inspiring, recognizing and encouraging people to seek out imaginative ways to engage in their communities.”

In the spirit of this vision, UNI’s Service and Leadership Council (SLC) provided volunteer opportunities last week for students to give back to the community.

Events included: making literacy kits for local children who struggle with reading, cutting T-shirts into re-usable bags, creating backpacks for the Northeast Iowa Food Bank and painting canvases with North Star, an organization that provides services for people with disabilities.

Of all the events that occurred last week, the largest was the Service Project Night, which was held in the Union Wednesday night.

Claire Wenisch, junior accounting and real estate double major and public relations executive for the SLC, spoke about planning and helping out at these events.

“There’s a really positive energy from all the different people coming together for a good cause,” Wenisch said. “You’re just going to meet a lot of good people, and it’s always a good time, you know, working together for the greater good.”

There were several students in attendance, many of whom were attending for the first time.

Abby Kolarik, freshman physical education major said it was important to have a big turnout.

“It shows that we care as students,” Kolarik said.

Freshman accounting major, Maddy Clark decided to come to the event when she heard about it from her RA.

“It’s nothing for you to do, but it’ll make someone else happy,” Clark said, explaining why she felt volunteering in general was important.

Both Kolarik and Clark described the event as fun and were looking forward to more volunteering events through SLC in the future.

Wenisch noted that there are a variety of volunteer opportunities that they put on throughout the year. These can vary from two-hour long events to day-long efforts.

The last major volunteer day on campus was the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, which brought together 275 volunteers. The efforts from these volunteers brought an outstanding 25,000 meals for the Northeast Iowa Food Bank in an hour.

Other projects included cleaning up a park and tackling several service projects throughout the Cedar Valley area.

Along with these bigger events, which are put on a couple times a year, the SLC provides opportunities for students to give back to the community through their weekly Volunteer Tuesdays events, which supports the Boys and Girls Club, the Northeast Iowa Food Bank and Ridgeway Place Activities.

They also provide what they call stop-and-serve events every other week in the Union where students can come in and work on a quick 5-minute service project.