Consider 195,000 hours, which equates roughly to 8,125 days rounding out to about 22.26 years. That is the amount of service the U’s students, staff, faculty and alumni provided in one year’s time through the Bennion Community Service Center. This measurement, as grand as it is, doesn’t skim the depth of the value of that service in the community and says a lot about the U.
These service hours, all completely voluntary, were spent carrying out service projects such as painting fences, raking leaves, pulling weeds, collecting cans of food for the Utah Food Bank Services, feeding the homeless, planting trees, visiting the elderly and so on. With so many people getting involved and reaching out to those in the community, the question arises, how can I become a part of this?
The Bennion Center, located on campus in the Union, facilitates participation in all kinds of service, not only on campus but all through the community. Monthly service projects and discussions are organized through the Bennion Center inviting everyone, including students, faculty and alumni of the U, to come and take part. With dozens of volunteers, the Bennion Center is a great way to meet people, get together with friends, better the community and make the most of our time by serving.
Dedicated to the late Lowell Bennion8212;a man known for his many years of service in the Salt Lake Valley and his dedicated heart for harboring such love of service8212;the Bennion Center’s sole purpose is service through the community.
Using discussions with the volunteers, service projects are planned by each of these student-directed programs to facilitate service where it’s really needed.
By being part of the Bennion Center, volunteers have the opportunity to get involved in service as often as they have time for. For some, this might be once a month at the Saturday service projects. This offers those who want to make the most of their time serving a chance to come and help out. For others, getting more deeply involved in a leadership role at the Bennion Center and planning and directing service projects and programs might be their desire. Either way, the Bennion Center is a place where everyone can find something they have an interest in and claim a place to serve.