Baton Rouge has it all — scenery, wealth and poverty. While many try to escape the bounds of poverty by simply ignoring the issue, others work to make the reality of it disappear completely.
LSU students are some of them.
LSU’s Commitment to Community states each student should contribute positively to their surrounding communities. With this in mind, some students are giving their time to make a difference.
The Spanish Cultural Society recently spent a day helping more than 1,000 residents in the Gardere area better understand their health care options in the city at the Third Annual Gardere Giveaway.
In addition to the Spanish Cultural Society, there were more than 900 volunteers organized in part by Volunteer LSU.
Now, nearly five years after it was founded, Volunteer LSU has successfully mastered its mission statement of promoting and coordinating volunteer opportunities, building partnerships within the community and instilling a lifelong commitment to service. With the ability to bring students together for events not only across the city but statewide, this organization is one of the most promising community service providers on campus.
But Volunteer LSU is still facing challenges getting enough volunteers and new members to join the group. Although 900 volunteers at a single event may be impressive, there are more than 26,000 undergraduate students on our campus.
Something has to give.
With so many students doing their part, it’s hard to watch the community suffer because it’s still not getting all the help it can use.
Tulane University seems to have solved part of this problem. Having been recorded by OnlineColleges.com as one of the top community service universities nationwide, they rack up more than 25,000 hours of community service a year for their 7,800 undergraduate students.
What’s their secret?
Similar to Volunteer LSU, Tulane University realized it was time to step up and play a bigger role in helping the community. This ambition, tied with making volunteering a requirement on campus, has led to major improvement throughout New Orleans.
And while it seems like the perfect solution to a lack of personnel, it shouldn’t be a requirement.
Josh Dean, adviser of Volunteer LSU and assistant director of Campus Life, says, “I think that students come to volunteering for many different reasons and each reason is valid. I would hate to make someone come to a volunteer opportunity because they felt like they had to.”
Volunteering is an experience that gives back what you put into it.
Brandon Smith, community affairs liaison of the LSU Community University Partnership, says our greatest need is the realization of the LSU community’s own strength.
“When we talk about it in those terms … volunteering is integrated into being an LSU Tiger. We have a fundamental belief to be the people’s university,” Smith said.
And as such, being an LSU Tiger means more than simply living purple and bleeding gold — it means that our hearts beat with service as it is a part of us.
We need to step up.
Priyanka Bhatia is a 19-year-old pre-vet freshman minoring in environmental management systems. Follow her on Twitter @TDR_Pbhatia.
 
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Contact Priyanka Bhatia at [email protected]