By Charlotte Nurphy
On April 12 and April 13, the IU Volunteer Corps student organization hosted its second annual day of service, Little Day of Service (LDOS). LDOS takes place the weekend before Little 500 each year and is a collaborative endeavor between Volunteer Corps, individual IU students, IU student organizations, campus partners, and community partners.
At the start of each spring semester, Volunteer Corps board members begin communicating with community partners to gauge interest in participating in a day of service by asking each partner what volunteer project(s) they would like assistance with, and how many student volunteers each partner feels comfortable hosting on the day of service. Volunteer Corps then recruits and matches student volunteers based on the needs outlined by each partner.
2024 LDOS volunteer opportunity offerings included Campus River cleanup with Indiana University Office of Sustainability, mental-wellness art kit assembly with Creative Arts for Vets (CAV), food collection with Agency 10 on Aging, greenhouse deconstruction, relocation, and reconstruction with People’s Cooperative Market, and organization of feminine hygiene supplies for Girls Inc.’s Period Project.
IU Corps talked with a few student volunteers and community leaders who were connected to this year’s day of service projects.
Paola Vega Yudico, a junior at IU and the Volunteer Corps Director of Events and Training, offered insight on LDOS.
“LDOS takes a lot of organization to make sure that everything is done in the right way,” Vega Yudico said. “The rewards of this project are huge.”
Gabbie Black, a junior at IU and the Volunteer Corps Board Chair, organized the LDOS weekend with the help of her board members. Throughout her experience on the board and as the president, Black and the rest of the board are working on laying a strong foundation for the future.
“It’s a big deal for us to be able to accomplish goals coming off of being the first year as a club,” Black said. “I’ve had a lot of fun creating foundations and making sure we maintain connections with the community.”
During LDOS, Black visited all the sites and volunteered with Girls Inc. Period Project.
“Girls Inc. is one of my favorite places to go. This year they had a big period project where they had the community donate hygiene products and we helped organize them. It’s fun to go there and help them with the small things. Some of the IU women’s basketball players (who were there as volunteers) would like to keep working with Girls Inc. in the future and they’re setting up a way to sponsor a few girls to come to their summer camps.” – Gabbie Black
Another LDOS volunteer opportunity was assembling art kits with Creative Arts for Vets on campus in Maxwell Hall. More than 30 student volunteers organized and assembled 2,003 art supplies and therapeutic guidebooks (CAV books) to help support the mental wellbeing of U.S. veterans.
Todd Burkhardt, Army veteran and CAV co-creator who works at the IU Center for Rural Engagement, explained their mission and what the kits contain.
“Veterans have the highest suicide rate nationally from 17 to 22 a day that die by suicide, which is tragic,” Burkhardt said. “We are trying to do our small part to mitigate and reduce those numbers. The book itself comes with different exercises and an art kit. We provide watercolor pencils, charcoal pencils, paintbrushes, and oil pastels. The CAV book was originally published in March of 2023, and in just over one year, we have mailed out over 7,000 books and we are in every state.”
Another LDOS activity was the Campus River clean-up with the IU Office of Sustainability. Tanjimul Alan, the Office of Sustainability’s Sustainability Manager, played a big part in organizing the cleanup in conjunction with the IU Environmental Health and Safety Office. This is the second year Volunteer Corps has helped with the Campus River cleanup for Little Day of Service. This year, In addition to picking up trash and debris, river testing was reintroduced through the Hoosier Riverwatch program.
“The Hoosier Riverwatch program is a group with water and stream testing kits. We brought in the experts, and they tested macroinvertebrates with nets. We waded into the middle of the river and tried to capture little crawfish to see the health of the river. The other tests were for turbidity and pH. One of the coolest hidden stories about this event was we found out that a couple years ago a chemistry professor had done the Hoosier Riverwatch program on the campus creek, so we were able to mimic that and contribute more data.” – Tanjimul Alan
Ben Richardson, a senior at IU majoring in Environmental Sustainability and a Volunteer Corps board member, explained why he enjoys the LDOS weekend and volunteering in Bloomington.
“I have enjoyed giving back and meeting new people and doing things I normally wouldn’t have done otherwise. Having this outlet, I would 100% recommend it to any undergrad who wants to get great experiences giving back,” Richardson said.
Richardson also gave a shout out to Black for such a job well done and her commitment to volunteerism.
“Gabbie works so hard and brings a smile to everyone’s face. If anyone saw her during Little Day of Service, consider your day amazing because she is the best,” he said.
Are you ready to get involved? Join Volunteer Corps today by visiting their page on beINvolved.