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Last week, Syracuse University’s Student Association and OrangeSeeds hosted the Spring Into Action Week and The Big Event respectively, the organizations’ largest student-run community service events of the year.

Through the events, SU students were able to engage directly with local non-profit organizations in the city of Syracuse and work to benefit other students on campus. SA’s initiatives included collaborations with organizations like the Syracuse YMCA and Joseph’s House for Women, while OrangeSeeds’ efforts helped InterFaith Works, the Ronald McDonald House and the Onondaga Earth Corps.

Leaders from SA and OrangeSeeds said the volunteer events were a way for students to connect with and give back to the local community off campus. Naiya Amin, a member of OrangeSeeds, called the club’s event a culmination of the skills and relationships built over the course of the year.

“The Big Event is a way for Syracuse University students to learn about and contribute to the greater Syracuse community,” Amin said in a written statement. “By traveling to multiple local organizations, we are building valuable connections that can hopefully be sustained for many years.”

SA’s Spring Into Action week, which ran from April 12 to 23, consisted of seven separate events, including a professional clothing drive and clothing swap for SU students, a food drive and handout and a community street cleanup, said Jack McCarty, SA’s chair of community engagement and government affairs. Students also tabled to collect donations and volunteered personally for the event’s partnered organizations.

SA President-elect William Treloar encouraged SA members to use their advantages and privileges to help the Syracuse community at an April 3 meeting. He said as attendees of a private university, students have the resources available to reach out to and help the surrounding community.

“We have to remember that the community around us is what supports us and allows us to exist as college students here,” Treloar said at the meeting. “It is as important to give back as it is to exist within this campus.”

SA has held a number of other service events over the course of this academic year, including its Fall into Action campaign clothing drive in November at which students donated clothing for the local Syracuse community outside of campus.

“Spring into Action is an initiative we started within the past few years, and it’s essentially an opportunity for us to create opportunities for students to engage in the local community and engage in community service and give back,” SA President David Bruen said.

For OrangeSeeds’ The Big Event, students gathered at Hendricks Chapel to meet with the community organizations with which they volunteered throughout the day. Amin and Ben Martin, another OrangeSeeds member, worked throughout the spring semester to plan the event, alongside other leaders divided into three planning committees including Logistics, Marketing and Community Relations.

Amin said OrangeSeeds also had two student liaisons who served as a bridge between the group and the organizations it serves in the surrounding area.

OrangeSeeds students volunteered with the Ronald McDonald House, the Samaritan Center, Onondaga Earth Corps, the Central New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Thornden Park, La Casita and InterFaith Works. Martin said students helped the organizations through yard work, landscaping, trash collection and organization.

Amin also said OrangeSeeds holds the event every year as a way to remind SU students to engage with the community outside of campus.

“We are all in the position to bring joy and service to the greater Syracuse community, and we should be doing just that together,” Amin said.

By helping out with work around the city, students felt empowered by doing good for the community, Martin said.

“As students of such a beautiful and diverse area, it’s vital to get involved and volunteer,” Martin said in a statement to The Daily Orange. “Syracuse is a great city and giving back to the community that provides so much to us as Syracuse students is really valuable and important.”

Published on April 23, 2023 at 10:04 pm

Contact Roxanne: rmboychu@syr.edu