Pilots Prevent
November 2, 2021
As we approach the holidays, a season of giving thanks, our thoughts also turn to giving back. Our communities need more help than ever, whether it’s our neighbors down the street or the many global communities we belong to as citizens of the world. If you’re not sure where to start, what opportunities are available, and how to serve safely, UP’s Moreau Center for Service and Justice can lead the way.
“In general, the Hands-On Greater Portland website is a great resource for people,” says Laurie Laird, director of the Moreau Center. “There are filters so people can search for opportunities more easily. You can search according to issues you care about, proximity, even in-person versus remote.”
Although many organizations had to limit their in-person volunteering due to COVID last year, the availability of vaccines has allowed many to open their opportunities back up, and their needs have never been greater. Usually, volunteers must be vaccinated and masked. If in-person volunteering doesn’t fit into your schedule or your comfort zone, there are still many ways to lend a hand remotely, whether that’s by stuffing envelopes, making phone calls from home, organizing a food or supplies drive, or sponsoring a family in need.
The Moreau Center’s main goal is to connect UP students with community partners in need, and to that end students have a wide array of opportunities to give back in both large and small ways.
“We’re partnering with Roosevelt High School, which has tutoring opportunities, particularly in math,” says Laird. “We’re partnering with SUN school programs, including helping with a weekly food pantry organized out of Cesar Chavez School. And we help St. Andre Bessette Catholic parish downtown, which provides hospitality for those experience houselessness.”
Laird says many service opportunities are posted on the Moreau Center’s events on Engage, but students can also find out what’s available by hopping on the Moreau Center’s website and connecting with one of the campus volunteer coordinators. “They can also reach out to the service and justice coordinator in their residence hall,” she says. “These are students in the halls who organize community engagement opportunities as well as educational opportunities. They’ve taken folks down to Operation Nightwatch, which provides support for people experiencing houselessness. They’ve organized tree planting with Friends of Trees.”
And as Thanksgiving and Christmas approach, there are simple ways students can give back right here on campus with no effort at all. “Our service and justice coordinators are collecting meal points for Thanksgiving baskets for Because People Matter,” says Laird. “Students can donate meal points and Bon Appetit uses the credits to purchase food items that go into these food baskets. It’s a partnership we’ve been doing for many years.”
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