Many students and parents experienced the self-gratification of helping out the
communities in Buffalo this past weekend, while participating in Buffalo State College’s
Family Volunteer Day.
The Volunteer and Service Learning Center put together the event to help students,
siblings, and families connect with neighborhoods beyond campus, while performing
meaningful work for the community.
Volunteers ranged from Greek life (fraternities and sororities) to families gathering to give
back to local communities.
The event initially took place at Campus West, located on campus along Grant Street.
Volunteers were then broken up to attend different locations.
Students were told to pick a site to volunteer at from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The sites were
scattered along the main lobby of Campus West, as volunteers went around and signed up
for the different areas.
Busing was provided for locations that were far from the campus and required
transportation to and from the sites.
Many sites dealt with rebuilding and enhancing the aesthetics of Buffalo’s communities.
From gardening to painting old worn buildings, the event focused on cleaning up the areas
in Buffalo and making the communities more visually appealing.
“My whole E-board mowed lawns in the rain today, but we laughed the whole way through.
I’ve never seen such team spirit and ambition before,” said Joi Jones, vice president of the
African American Student Organization.
Many fraternities and sororities had optimistic statements.
“We built pathways and pulled weeds from old flowerbeds,” Deon Bolden, brother of Iota
Phi Theta, said. “Iota Phi Theta Fraternity Incorporated is always trying to give back to the
community and this event helped us do just that.”
The Family Volunteer Day enabled volunteers to give back as well as learn about the city
they live in. Many site instructors expressed the significance and reasoning behind each
site and why the help was needed for anyone who cared to know.
“It’s good to do things like this because when we got there, there was already a person from
the community there working as well,” Buffalo State Alumni Jennifer Wozniak said. “They
told us about how the gardening got started.”
The Family Volunteer Day created awareness to the issues with the Buffalo communities
and helped students, parents and alumni comprehend the history behind the community.
“It’s just good to give back and know that there are people in the community already out
there doing work like this,” Wozniak said. “It really motivates and encourages you.”
The VSLC is located Cleveland Hall 306. For more information regarding upcoming
volunteer opportunities you may email valc@buffalostate.edu or call 878-5811.
Brittney Singletary can be reached by email at singletary.record@live.com.