Fresno State has provided more than 10 million hours of community service in 10 years, an impressive feat feat in the eyes of the head of The Jan and Bud Richter Center.
It’s a sentiment embarrassed by Miracle Carter, a junior nursing major and Richter Center student leader. “Volunteering is not a ‘task’ to be checked off of a task list, but instead a way of living ”” a way of life,” Carter said.
“I volunteered at a literacy program back in my hometown, Bakersfield, where I created lesson plans and innovative ways to teach children, ranging in age from 5 to 16, the importance of literacy,” Carter said.
Volunteering is as good for the students as it is for the community.
“Students who get involved in service during their college years outperform their non-serving peers in a number of different ways … The benefits are generally broken down into three categories: academic benefits, personal benefits, career benefits,” said Chris Fiorentino, director of the Jan and Bud Richter Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning.
In terms of academic benefits, Fiorentino said that students are more likely to graduate and get better grades than others not involved.
“You can’t learn to play the piano by listening to lectures about playing the piano, and you can’t learn to apply academic material without going out into the community and applying it in some way,” Fiorentino said.
Carter agreed, noting an improvement of her own critical thinking.
Students said there are many of personal benefits from doing community service.
“The connections that I have made and the families that I have joined have definitely been the best part of my volunteer experience and the most I’ve benefited from doing so,” Carter said. “Although I have sharpened some key traits that will always be beneficial in a workplace setting, the interpersonal relationships are what’s going to resonate in my heart for the rest of my life.”
Evelyn Gonzalez, a senior sociology major with a minor in Spanish and also a Richter Center Student Leader, said, “I have gained compassion for others and a greater understanding of the need in my community. I have also met some of my great friends because of volunteering.”
Gonzalez has worked with the Food Recovery Network, fighting food waste on campus and distributing food to community partners.
In terms of life after college, Fiorentino pointed to studies that have found that students who have volunteered are more satisfied with their jobs and have an easier time finding employment.
“You hear a lot of times you can’t get a job without experience and you can’t get experience without a job. Service is one great way to get that experience.” Fiorentino added that another way that community service can help you get a job is by having you build connections with others.
“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. Service gives students a chance to network in some really important ways,” Fiorentino said.
The Richter Center helps coordinate connections between students looking for volunteer opportunities and the 40 university programs and roughly 1,000 nonprofits in the Fresno and Clovis area. The Richter Center was founded nine years ago when Jan and Bud Richter donated $3.5 million. The university has won a number of national awards for its community service efforts including one from the Carnegie Foundation and another from the president of the United States.
Students have sold newspapers on Kids Day, for example. They have tutored local elementary school students through the Reading and Beyond program at Fresno State. They have helped prepare income taxes through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program.