Volunteers gathered in front of the doors of Wal-Mart and Safeway on Saturday to hand out lists of goods for people to buy and donate to Interfaith-Good Samaritan, a Laramie-based emergency help non-profit organization.
The University of Wyoming’s Service, Leadership and Community Engagement office (SLCE) hosts a “Service Saturday” once a month in order to give back to the community.
Volunteers worked an average of two-hour shifts from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., asking customers as they entered the doors of Wal-Mart and Safeway if they could donate certain food items as well as certain toiletries to Interfaith-Good Samaritan.
This was SLCE student coordinator Rylee Bundy’s first time organizing a Service Saturday.
“I believe that it is so important to give back to the community that one lives in,” Bundy said. “We give the students at UW the opportunity to volunteer and give back to the Laramie community that does so much for all of us. Volunteering teaches you so much about the place where you live as well as how to be apart of something bigger than yourself.”
SLCE partnered up with Interfaith-Good Samaritan, which provides services such as food and financial assistance for those in need. The organization is a non-profit that strongly depends on the help of volunteers and donations to operate.
Saturday, Interfaith collected over 3,000 pounds of food with the help of approximately 40 volunteers. They collected a spectrum of items, from food to toiletries: peanut butter, jam, jelly, pasta, shelf stable milk, toilet paper, diapers, canned goods and more.
Three students from the University of Wyoming were eager to contribute to their community as they stood in the chilly morning air at 9 a.m. Each had different reasons for volunteering.
“I like to be involved with the SLCE office and I thought this was a cool opportunity to help out Interfaith,” said Eilis Olgren, who is also on the SLCE student advisory board. She has also volunteered at multiple other events.
Donald Ballamy, a student at the University’s School of Law, was motivated by his service-oriented peers.
“Our law group started this page on Facebook called University of Wyoming Law Service Group and I thought it was such a good idea,” Ballamny said. “This is our second thing that we’ve contributed to help and that’s kind of why I showed up.”
Another law student, Connor Thompson, also cited a desire to contribute to the community and be involved in the law group.
“I try to volunteer a lot. I volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters and American Red Cross. When I saw the Law Service Group, I decided to be apart of that too,” Thompson said.
Ballamy and Thompson, while volunteering as much as they can on their own, said this is their first time volunteering at an event like this.
Other upcoming events that SLCE organizes are Good Mule Projects/People’s Supper, Pokes Vote and others. Students with questions about events and wanting to sign up for volunteering may visit UWyo.edu/union/slce/.
