11/08/99

Students Work With Service Agency

During Block 3, students in CMNS 251, in a section taught by Marianne Reiff, have completed many volunteer hours for the Adventist Community Service Agency in Greeneville.

Students have worked in the agency's food bank and clothing store, and have even become involved with users of those services, cutting firewood for a disabled person and repairing the roof for an elderly woman.

Together, students in the class organized a food and clothing drive for the agency.

"I think we found out just how much little things can affect others," said Ryan Craig, a student Dr. Reiff describes as "our organizer."

I didn't realize before that if you help people solve little problems, like the firewood and the roof, that their lives are improved a great deal."

The course is a preparatory class for students about to engage in their service-learning project. Students learn about community service and community-based organizations in a theoretical way. Many times, classes will study specific organizations and read material related to the lives of the clients served by the organization. As part of the common syllabus for the course, students engage in a minimum of ten hours of community service.