Week of ‘Youth Service Days’ in Detroit metro area will get underway with opening event at Wayne State Monday, April 16

Wayne State University President Irvin D. Reid will help launch a week of youthful volunteer activities in the Detroit metro area by participating in opening ceremonies for National & Global Youth Service Days at 11 a.m. Monday, April 16, in the atrium of WSU’s Adamany Undergraduate Library.

Reid will talk to about 80 children from the Merrill-Palmer Child Development Lab and from the Early Childhood Center, both at WSU, about what they can do to benefit others. The children will sing a song and each will receive a copy of the book 26 Things Small Hands Can Do. Other Wayne State administrators who are working with the national youthful volunteer initiative will make brief remarks about the importance of volunteerism and Wayne State’s role as the only “lead agency” selected by Youth Service America (national coordinator of the annual program) in Michigan.

Through the program, children will be working with older volunteers, including Wayne State students, on a variety of civic projects in the Detroit area. These range from planting flowers to assisting at a soup kitchen. Among goals of the national program, now in its 19th year, are encouraging youths to address service needs in their communities and to promote a lifetime interest in civic involvement.

Volunteers have been signing up for the program through a WSU Web site (ccbe.wayne.edu/nysd/events.php). The project sites were selected by an advisory board made up of Wayne State students and headed by Kelley Skillin, communications director of the Center for Community-Based Education at Wayne State. She notes that approximately 1,000 people have volunteered to pitch in at about 20 project sites. One or more students from Wayne State will be on hand at each site to help coordinate the volunteer activities.

Below is a small sampling of activities involved. (A complete list of projects, sites and dates accompanies this release.)

• Community clean-up and/or beautification projects in Detroit, Hamtramck and Warren.

• Sorting donated clothes and bagging food for clients at St. Dominic’s Outreach Center in Detroit.

• High school and university students will read to first and second graders at Maybury Elementary School in Detroit.

• WSU students will help sort and pack food at Gleaners Community Food Bank in Detroit.

• Youth will assist with landscaping and clean-up at the Detroit Zoo.

• Assisting in volunteer activities at St. Christine’s Soup Kitchen in Detroit.

Volunteers may still sign up at the Web site above, although many project locations already have a full complement of volunteers.
The week of youthful volunteer activities will conclude with closing ceremonies at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 22, in WSU’s Community Arts Auditorium. That event will include performances on stage, awards for poster and essay contests, and sampling of international cuisine.

For more information about National & Global Youth Service Days, call Kelley Skillin at 313-577-9216.