Only four months after First Lady Michelle Obama’s challenge to complete 100,000 service hours in the academic year, GW has neared the halfway mark. As of Dec. 15, the University community has completed 46,008 service hours. Hours are tracked by VolunteerMatch, a custom-designed online service available through the hub http://serve.gwu.edu.
Since September, the GW community has volunteered in a variety of organizations throughout the D.C. metropolitan area, including Capital Area Food Bank, Transitional Housing Corporation and Miriam’s Kitchen.
From Nov. 16-21, the University community participated in a series of service projects as part of its observation of National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. The events were designed to educate the campus community, promote community service and shed light on the realities of poverty. Since the start of the academic year, the GW community has contributed more than 3,200 hours of service related to hunger and homelessness issues and has donated almost 1,300 pounds of food to the Capital Area Food Bank.
GW also made the holidays a little brighter for 164 local families with its participation in the Adopt-A-Family Program. The University community filled the Marvin Center Grand Ballroom with more than 1,700 donated gifts.
“George Washington students have been one of the Transitional Housing Corporation’s strongest groups of volunteers for many years,” says Margaret Thaxton, director of development at Transitional Housing Corporation. “The students’ dedication has a profound impact on the lives of our families and helps THC to fulfill our mission of transforming the lives of D.C. families who are homeless.”
Next month, more than 200 students will help GW meet Mrs. Obama’s challenge by participating in Alternative Winter Break, Jan. 3-10, sponsored by GW’s Office of Community Service. The projects include green reconstruction and education in Guatemala; jungle conservation, construction and education in Peru; disaster relief in Atlanta; and Sudanese immigration immersion and education in Nashville.
On Jan. 18, the GW community will spend the holiday volunteering at Roosevelt Senior High School for Martin Luther King Jr. Service Day, a nationally recognized community service day.
In September, Mrs. Obama challenged the GW community to complete 100,000 hours of service and promised to speak at the 2010 Commencement on May 16 if the University achieved this goal. Mrs. Obama issued her challenge on Sept. 11 during the first National Day of Service and Remembrance, which was the culmination of President Barack Obama’s “United We Serve” summer service initiative.
For more information, visit http://serve.gwu.edu.