Over 1000 volunteers participated in the ninth annual President’s Day of Service (PDOS), traveling to more than 35 different sites in Baltimore, on Saturday, Sept. 23.
Students registered for PDOS in groups and were then assigned a community organization to work with. Service projects fell into three categories: hunger and food justice, beautification and working with people and animals. The event officially ran from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. but most volunteers worked from 12 to 3 p.m.
Students worked with the Center for Social Concern (CSC) to organize the event. Unlike past years, the CSC held reflection sessions once students returned from their volunteer sites.
University President Ronald J. Daniels addressed volunteers in the Ralph S. O’Connor Recreation Center Saturday morning. Daniels said that he hoped participants learned more about the city and themselves. He stressed that they should continue to engage with the community.
“We’re motivated by a sense that we want to get outside of ourselves,” Daniels said. “I truly think that’s part of what brought us here, this sense of responsibility.”
Crediting his wife for coming up with PDOS, he said that they wanted to ensure that the event encouraged meaningful interactions with Baltimore.
Junior Della Xu thinks that engaging with Baltimore does not stop with volunteering.
“There is much more to be done than just the physical work,” she said. “There needs to be a lot of education, conversation and reflection. It’s a constant process.”
Kelly Milo, assistant director of operations for the CSC, emphasized why small group discussions were added to PDOS this year.
“Reflection after service is a crucial part of a meaningful service experience,” Milo wrote in an email to The News-Letter.
Milo also stated that the CSC added new community partners that PDOS volunteers worked with this year, including Chase Brexton Health Care, a health services center, the Star Track Adolescent Health Program, which provides health care for youth, and Friends of St. Vincent Cemetery.
Senior Ryan Nam volunteered at Second Chance, a non-profit that sells second-hand items and salvageable construction materials. The organization also employs individuals, like former felons, who face challenges finding employment.
Nam said that he spent time sorting wood and moving window frames with other fellow members of Alpha Phi Omega (APO), a co-ed community service fraternity.
Though this was the first time APO members had worked with Second Chance, the fraternity plans on continuing service projects with the non-profit this year.
“PDOS is a great way to find new community partners,” he said. “PDOS allows us to create these contacts and, in the future, create many weekly volunteering projects.”
According to Nam, Hopkins students can make a lasting impact by contributing their time and energy to community partners.
“We are so privileged to be given all these opportunities, and I think that it is our obligation to give back,” he said. “Through volunteering, I’ve learned a lot through people and through the activities we do. It helps me grow as a person, and I really enjoy seeing others happy.”
Senior Hannah Jones, also a member of APO, enjoyed working with Second Chance because it provided her with a new way to engage with Baltimore.
“I’ve done PDOS the past three years, and I’d always been on the more outdoors, landscaping or invasive species removal-based projects,” she said. “This was a different organization that I’d never heard about.”
Jones believes that the event can encourage students who may have previously been unengaged.
“Hearing from the community partners actually encourages people to go back and volunteer again,” she said. “That’s the lasting impact PDOS is trying to have.”
Milo described how CSC encourages community service after PDOS ends.
“We continue to work with many of those partners throughout the year through many of our other programs, including CSC student groups, the Community Impact Internships Program (CIIP) and Alternative Breaks,” she wrote. “Every student participating in PDOS received a handout with other ways to get involved in our programs.”
Junior Arinze Ochuba served as a team leader volunteering with York Road Partnership, a group that oversees service projects in the York Road area of Baltimore.
Ochuba, a transfer student, wrote in an email to The News-Letter that he appreciated the opportunity to give back to his community.
“I just started living in Baltimore, and I noticed the large amount of resources we draw from the community,” he wrote. “From the food we eat at the Fresh Food Cafe (FFC) to the security guards that patrol the area. Giving back is a way to say thanks to the community for their hospitality.”
Alongside 45 members of her sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta (Theta), Xu weeded one of the community gardens of 6th Branch, an organization that works with veterans.
The organization sells produce grown in its community gardens at affordable prices and donates the money to a local school.
In addition to being Theta’s service and philanthropy director, Xu interns at CSC and participated in CIIP this summer. She believes that service work is valuable because it has given her a sense of purpose.
“Working in a community has always helped ground me, since I’ve moved around a lot when I was younger,” she said.
While some criticize PDOS for its short duration, Xu believes that the event is still meaningful.
“If it’s enough to signal to some people and to spark conversation, then it’s a good gesture,” she said.
Ochuba believes PDOS has a domino effect on students and encourages them to continue volunteering.
“Not only do they still give back to the community after the event, they also inspire their friends to do the same,” he said.
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