2008 Woodie Awards
Student volunteering increases as season approaches
Brittany Hernandez
Issue date: 11/26/08 Section: HOLIDAILY
The North Texas student volunteer center has noticed a significant increase of students who have gotten involved since the terrorism attacks of Sept. 11.
"The numbers are pretty amazing," said Mary Pastorius, Director of Student Life. "In the last year, there has been a 77 percent increase in the amount of student involvement."
Pastorius said every month the volunteer center tracks the number of applications and why students are interested in volunteering. In 2006-2007 the total of applicants and volunteers at events was 787. The combination of applicants and volunteers at events for 2007-2008 rose to 1,749. On the volunteer center application, students have the option to check either "scholarships," "leadership building," or "strong desire to volunteer." More than 50 percent of applicants last year checked the box for strong desire to volunteer.
"They are not doing it because they have to, students are doing it because they want to. Some students just look at it like they are helping out" Pastorius said. 75 students volunteered at this year's homecoming weekend. They helped throughout the four days with the football game, pep rally and family weekend.
The volunteer center is currently assessing ways to manage their student volunteer data base. A software program will allow students to log in online and update their hours and information from that day. Pastorius said this will help keep a centralized system of the number of hours that volunteers complete.
United Way of Denton County has also noticed the help of NT student volunteers in their organization.
"A lot of NT students came to help at the May 2008 food drive," Lillia Chavez-Bynum, President and CEO of United Way of Denton County said.
After hurricane Ike hit this past year, the Salvation Army worked with many UNT students. Chavez-Bynum said UNT students came in to help with the phone banks to talk to people.
"We had more volunteers than we needed which was great," said Chavez-Bynum.
United Way of Denton County has a three-year project called Rolling Needs Assessment that NT student volunteers contribute to. They gather different kinds of data from the community to figure out what the needs in the community are. It allows United Way of Denton County to focus their efforts in a certain area said Chavez-Bynum. The project started this spring and at least 50 NT students are volunteering.
United Way of Denton County has jumped into computer networking to gather student volunteers through Facebook. It has more than 100 friends and a group home page with videos and pictures of volunteer activities.
To contact United Way visit their web site at www.unitedwaydenton.org.
"The numbers are pretty amazing," said Mary Pastorius, Director of Student Life. "In the last year, there has been a 77 percent increase in the amount of student involvement."
Pastorius said every month the volunteer center tracks the number of applications and why students are interested in volunteering. In 2006-2007 the total of applicants and volunteers at events was 787. The combination of applicants and volunteers at events for 2007-2008 rose to 1,749. On the volunteer center application, students have the option to check either "scholarships," "leadership building," or "strong desire to volunteer." More than 50 percent of applicants last year checked the box for strong desire to volunteer.
"They are not doing it because they have to, students are doing it because they want to. Some students just look at it like they are helping out" Pastorius said. 75 students volunteered at this year's homecoming weekend. They helped throughout the four days with the football game, pep rally and family weekend.
The volunteer center is currently assessing ways to manage their student volunteer data base. A software program will allow students to log in online and update their hours and information from that day. Pastorius said this will help keep a centralized system of the number of hours that volunteers complete.
United Way of Denton County has also noticed the help of NT student volunteers in their organization.
"A lot of NT students came to help at the May 2008 food drive," Lillia Chavez-Bynum, President and CEO of United Way of Denton County said.
After hurricane Ike hit this past year, the Salvation Army worked with many UNT students. Chavez-Bynum said UNT students came in to help with the phone banks to talk to people.
"We had more volunteers than we needed which was great," said Chavez-Bynum.
United Way of Denton County has a three-year project called Rolling Needs Assessment that NT student volunteers contribute to. They gather different kinds of data from the community to figure out what the needs in the community are. It allows United Way of Denton County to focus their efforts in a certain area said Chavez-Bynum. The project started this spring and at least 50 NT students are volunteering.
United Way of Denton County has jumped into computer networking to gather student volunteers through Facebook. It has more than 100 friends and a group home page with videos and pictures of volunteer activities.
To contact United Way visit their web site at www.unitedwaydenton.org.
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