Students who missed last month’s community service fair at Coffman Memorial Union will have a second chance today to find out about volunteer and internship opportunities in the Twin Cities.
Several community service agencies will gather in the St. Paul Student Center’s Northstar Ballroom between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. The groups hope to find students willing to donate time and effort to their organizations.
Sandy Kelsey, one of the event’s coordinators and an employee of the Student Services Center — St. Paul, said the organizations are eager to meet students who are interested in volunteering.
“They’re happy to do it,” she said. “They’re looking for volunteers and interns, and both the organizations and the students are served” by the event.
This is the third year that the University has sponsored a campus-wide community service fair.
Students attending the fair can direct questions to the representatives of the estimated 25 organizations. Also, a Macintosh Computer donated by the University of Minnesota Bookstores will be raffled off during the event.
Last year, the St. Paul fair drew several hundred people, said Kelsey. Last months’ Minneapolis fair also attracted more than 300 people, said Tina Rovick, a coordinator for the Minneapolis event.
One of the reasons the event is so popular with students, said Kelsey, is because so many students need to fulfill internship requirements for degree programs.
“You’re pulling together a number of programs into one place,” said Kelsey. “It’s a service for students because they don’t have to go beating doors and looking up the phone numbers. These folks are coming to the students.”
Some of the organizations that will be represented today include various projects coordinated by the St. Paul-area United Way, the Salvation Army and the American Heart Association.