WWU launches Western Action for Volunteer Engagement and Service to connect campus to community service

The student-led Community Service Center, located in Viking Union room 424, has wrapped up its third year with many changes over the years. These first few years have been focused on establishing the needs of campus and local community and settling on a staffing structure. As we enter into its fourth year this fall, the office now has two student employees - a director and marketing coordinator - as well as three work-study students who serve as AmeriCorps volunteers named Community Service Assistants. All of these students work together to design and implement various programs throughout the year. Visit our website to see past and current Impact Reports!

The most exciting addition to our work has been launching the Western Action for Volunteer Engagement and Service, or WAVES, platform. If you have ever visited the Volunteer Center of Whatcom County or the Bellingham Parks Volunteer Program website, WAVES will look familiar as it uses the same platform called Galaxy Digital to highlight needs and events across the county. WAVES is specific to Western and requires a WWU login but pulls in all of those amazing opportunities across the county, in addition to needs on campus.

We have partnered with a few departments on campus including Arts and Music Productions, Conference Services (for the Latinos in Action conference) and LGBTQ+ Western to help them find volunteers as well as helping the Honors Program to record their students' volunteer hours. This year, we hope to partner with even more departments and faculty across campus! We are especially interested in helping you design community-engaged learning initiatives (often called service learning) in order to integrate volunteerism into the classroom.

If you are interested in learning more about the Community Service Center, WAVES, and/or help with community-engaged initiatives, please contact Jenn Cook, Associate Director of Student Engagement, at [email protected] or through Teams. You may schedule a meeting with her through Outlook or using her Calendly link: https://calendly.com/cookj22wwu/help

If nothing else, keep a look out for our Fall programs:

• Camp VU - September 18, 19 - students will engage in projects to be donated
• Volunteer Fair - October 28 - students can browse and talk with local organizations about ways to help their community - we ask that you send your students!
• Bloodworks Northwest Blood Drive - November 9, 10 - students will have the opportunity to assist with the drive and/or donate blood

Many more opportunities will happen in Winter and Spring as well! Follow us on WIN and Instagram and sign up for our monthly newsletter.