This Saturday, April 11, is the Center for Civic Engagement and Learning semesterly Saturday of Service, an event where students can sign up to perform service for one of 30 non-profit organizations on and around campus. With over 700 volunteer positions, this year’s event will mainly feature gardening and youth projects, such as removing invasive species from a wildlife sanctuary or assembling meals for Kids Against Hunger.

Freshman Yujie Hu participated in Saturday of Service last semester, sorting supplies for Medwish, an organization that sends unused medical supplies to third-world countries.

“I felt like I contributed to a worthy cause,” said Hu. “Because I’m a pre-med student, I really felt like what I was doing was worthwhile.”

The Saturday of Service event has been expanding every semester, with more and more volunteer positions for students available each time.

This year the number of volunteer positions for the Kids Against Hunger event has doubled to 400, with 50,000 meals to be assembled.

“I think it’s becoming a tradition that students are looking for on campus,” said Adrian Griffin, CCEL’s Program Coordinator. She went on to say that she thinks students want to do more and more service, as evidenced by the increased turnout every year and the number of students requesting additional service events.

Registration for Saturday of Service will be available until Wednesday, April 8, at midnight. If there are any empty volunteer spots left after the deadline, registration for those spots might remain open. If no positions are open, come Saturday; students are still allowed to show up to Thwing Atrium anywhere from 8 a.m.-12:30 a.m. to fill potential no-show spots or Wyant Athletic & Wellness Center from 8 a.m.-9 p.m. to help with Kids Against Hunger. Transportation to off-campus events will be provided.