Each Maymester, Community Engagement Week provides Auxiliary Services employees the opportunity to volunteer around the Athens community. This year, Auxiliary Services partnered with the Athens Area Humane Society, Athens Community Council on Aging, Books for Keeps, City of Refuge, Our Daily Bread, Project Safe, and Sweet Olive Farm on several hands-on projects. Each nonprofit organization offered unique ways for Auxiliary team members to provide support.
The Athens Area Humane Society works to rescue and protect companion animals by providing for their well-being, uniting them with loving homes, and advocating for a compassionate society. During Community Engagement Week, volunteers from Auxiliary helped out by cleaning cages and play areas, taking dogs for walks, bagging and organizing cat food, washing dishes and laundry, playing with the animals, and more.
The favorite job of Financial Planning, Analysis, and Reporting Manager Nolan Dasher was helping to bathe the puppies. This was Dasher’s second year volunteering at the Humane Society through Auxiliary Services. “I like being able to give back to the community,” he said.
The mission of the Athens Community Council on Aging is to promote a lifetime of wellness through engagement, advocacy, education, and support. Auxiliary volunteers assisted with the Senior Staples program, which delivers groceries to older adults in the Athens area. They collected boxes of pantry items and canned goods, bags of fresh groceries, and frozen treats, then drove the items to recipients’ homes.
Marinda Little, a Cashier at Bolton Dining Commons, met someone who knew her as a child while delivering groceries. The experience made a deep impression. “This is how I want to spend my Saturdays — not just doing it for UGA but doing it because I want to,” she said.
Books for Keeps aims to improve children’s literacy by creating equal and free access to books. Auxiliary volunteers helped distribute books to students at Jonnie Lay Burks Elementary School by assisting students with selecting books to take home, restocking books between classes, and conducting exit surveys.
City of Refuge works to bring light, hope, and transformation to those living in crisis in the Athens area. They feed up to 800 families per week in addition to providing food to Athens-Clarke County summer camps, laundry detergent and clothes to local schools, and other items to community members in need. Auxiliary volunteers packed produce and served groceries to families at City of Refuge’s monthly distribution, stocked shelves, and packed bags for the Food4Kids program.
Our Daily Bread is a community kitchen operating at the First Baptist Church of Athens and offering meals and vital resources to members of the Athens community who are facing homelessness and extreme poverty. They serve more than 600 guests per week. Auxiliary volunteers helped with setup and preparation of food, drinks, and silverware prior to the arrival of guests and helped serve meals and refreshments.
Project Safe works to end domestic violence through crisis intervention, ongoing supportive services, systems change advocacy, prevention, and education. Auxiliary employees supported the nonprofit by sorting and organizing donations and clothing at the Project Safe Thrift Store.
To Elizabeth Smith, a Manager at Hillside Dining Commons who has volunteered at the thrift store in past years, the mission of Project Safe was motivational. “You keep telling yourself why you’re here,” she said. “All their proceeds are going to actually help these women.”
Sweet Olive Farm Animal Rescue in Winterville provides a forever home to farm animals and exotic animals that are unwanted, injured, elderly, or homeless. Sweet Olive is home to more than 250 rescued animals. Auxiliary volunteers at the farm helped feed and groom the animals, assisted with farm chores and cleaning, and made the animals feel loved and cared for.
Community Engagement Week lifts everyone’s spirits and reminds Auxiliary staff of the strong connection between the university and our neighbors in the surrounding area. “I think it’s great that Auxiliary gives us these opportunities during Maymester,” Smith said. “The community engagement is amazing.”
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By Lindsey Rice