Staff and faculty at Syracuse University are just some of the volunteers among the 30 Central New York corporations participating in the first Signature Project, a large-scale volunteer event that focuses on assisting Syracuse’s Samaritan Center. The project is part of National Volunteer Week, which began Sunday and ends Saturday.

Volunteers from University College, SU’s Division of Student Affairs and SU’s Community Service Affinity Group have been collecting books, clothing and toiletries for the food pantry as part of a project organized by the Corporate Volunteer Council in partnership with United Way.

Mary Beth Frey, executive director of the Samaritan Center, said the center has seen more working poor, part-time workers and families in need.

The center typically has about 400 volunteers a month, but Frey said she notices an increase in interest around National Volunteer Week.

“It’s very similar to Thanksgiving or Christmas,” Frey said about National Volunteer Week. “I think what’s sometimes difficult for places like the Samaritan Center and other nonprofit organizations is that work takes place all year, so it’s nice to have that awareness piece to get people involved and thinking about what happens every single day of the year and how they can get involved and give back.”

Local contributions from churches, individuals and corporations make up about 90 percent of the $460,000 budget, Frey said. Food donations come from local catered events, farmers and restaurants such as Pastablities, which donates leftover bread daily, and Starbucks and Panera Bread, which give leftover breakfast sweets.

The Samaritan Center was chosen by the Corporate Volunteer Council because of the need to help the local community, said Eileen Jevis, manager of public relations at University College and chair of the logistics committee for the Signature Project.

“There is so much need in the community due to the downturn in economics. They are feeding more people than ever,” Jevis said.

Event planning began in January. Jevis has been rallying coworkers to participate through donations of time or baked goods, she said. She and her co-workers deliver desserts to the center daily. Jevis has collected about 150 new and used books from co-workers that will be left for children to read during their visits.

The Corporate Volunteer Council predicted 10 to 15 people would volunteer, Jevis said, but community involvement has exceeded expectations. A typical meal requires 15 to 20 volunteers to serve. With the increase in volunteers, Jevis said she hopes participation will extend throughout the month and possibly into May.

Jevis has not recruited students to participate yet, but she has communicated with the Office of Student Life and expects students to help serving meals, she said.

Cora Thomas, facilitator for SU’s Community Service Affinity Group, has participated by collecting donations like soap, deodorant and tissues from co-workers.

The involvement inspired Thomas to look into serving a meal at the center outside of her participation with the Signature Project.

“We are committed to making a difference to our community, and we do that through our service,” Thomas said. “And we are always looking — always looking — for projects that we can work on as a group, and we’re also looking for volunteers to help us with those projects.”

 

Published on April 19, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Dara: dkmcbrid@syr.edu | @daramcbride