What makes Kean University great is not only its ‘World Class Education’ but the fact that community service is valued greatly. There are many ways students can get involved in the community and one office that can help students with involvement is the center for leadership and service (CLS).

“The benefits of being involved in community service are that it helps students connect to their Kean community and the community that surrounds the campus,” comments service specialist Sabrina Hamilton, who is a junior majoring in Biology.

“It gives students a sense of civic participation and social responsibility. It also helps them gain and strengthen their citizenship skills and the satisfaction of helping others.”

The CLS is an office that provides numerous amounts of opportunities for students to get involved on and off campus and take on leadership roles. Every spring and fall semester the CLS hosts a great amount of volunteer opportunities, which includes:

• Habitat for Humanity - Help build homes for those who are less fortunate. Students will be taken from the main campus of Kean University to a Habitat for Humanity site in Union County by a Kean University shuttle. Once at the site, students may be asked to put up a wall, cut wood, paint, and more. There are four Habitat for Humanity trips, all of which fall on Saturday. The dates for the semester are: September 26, October 10, November 21, and December 5.  

Volunteers taking part in Habitat for Humanity
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• Adopt-A-Park – Help keep the parks of Union County clean by volunteering at Adopt-A-Park. This volunteer service allows students to help clean one of the 36 parks in the county by picking up trash, fixing fences, and raking. This volunteer service will be held four times this semester and all dates are held on a Sunday: September 13, October 10, November 5, and December 13. 

• Community Food Bank – Students can help those in dire need of food by attending one of the many community food bank trips. While there, students can expect to do a variety of things, including the act of sorting and re-packing food. The dates for this service projects are: Friday Dates: September 25, October 16, October 30, November 30 and December 4 Saturday Dates: September 19 and 26, November 14 and Sunday, October 11 and December 12.

Volunteers taking part in community food bank
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• Blood Drive – Help save the lives of many people by donating blood.  About 95 percent of the United States population will need a blood transfusion in their lives. If individuals don’t want to donate blood but would like to volunteer they can do so. Students will be able to donate blood on the dates that follow (nearly all blood drives fall on a Thursday): September 1, Thursday, November 8, December 3, and Tuesday, December 8.

• Pediatric Mobile Food Pantry – Is similar to the Community Food Bank, but instead of volunteers packing and storing food, volunteers will be able to give bags of food to those in need. Here, volunteers will pack grocery bags filled with general necessities and those bags will be given to any person who comes to the mobile food pantry and is in dire need of food. The dates for the Mobile Food Pantry are as listed (all are Tuesday dates): September 15 and 29, October 13 and 27, November 10 and 17, and December 8.

• Atria Senior Living –The nursing home is located in Cranford, New Jersey and students will be able to participate in many activities with residents of the senior living home. This service allows students to create an enjoyable time for the seniors. Volunteers should expect to engage the residents by playing games, such as bingo and making crafts. The dates are as follow (nearly all dates are on a Sunday): September 20, November 1, December 6, and Saturday, October 10.

Volunteer students at Atria Senior Living
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• Making Strides Against Breast Cancer – One of the most popular volunteering opportunities among students, Making Strides Against Breast Cancer is an opportunity that allows students to help raise money for the awareness and research for breast cancer. This event will be held on Sunday, October 25, 2015 and will be located in Edison, New Jersey.

Volunteers taking part in last years Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk
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• Raphael’s Life House (RLH) – “Raphael's Life House is a traditional home that houses women between the ages of 18 and 23 who are pregnant and homeless,” comments service specialist Kimalee Ford, a senior majoring in psychology. This service program is not like any of the service opportunities listed above. This program will begin sometime in late September and, as Susan Figueroa, the managing assistant director of CLS, says, “this program is for dedicated volunteers who can participate on a weekly or bi-weekly basis throughout the semester.” Students who volunteer with RLH will be taking care of the children while the mothers attend different workshops, go to doctors’ appointments, and more. Students have to go through an application process in order to volunteer for RLH. Students who would like to volunteer for RLH will have to make sure their Tuesday’s and Thursday’s are free. To apply, visit the CLS page on Cougar Link and click on the ‘Forms’ tab to find the application.

In order to sign up for any of the community service opportunities stated above, visit the CLS page on Cougar Link and click on the ‘Events’ tab. From there one can scroll through the events and see all the volunteer opportunities listed. Once a student has decided which volunteer project he or she would like to attend, they can then go to the ‘Forms’ tab of the CLS page and click on the Volunteer Activity Registration form. Students must complete the form in its entirety at least a week prior to the event. Students will then be notified within one to two days if there are enough spots in the service project to accommodate them. It is advised that individuals apply weeks prior to the listed service project date as many service projects fill up quickly. More information on each service project, can be found on Cougar Link.

Volunteers taking part in Habitat for Humanity
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