Global Service Project Puts the Boston Back in BU

When asked what the goal of Boston University’s Global Day of Service (GDS) is, the Events Program Manager Miriam Levine tilted her head and responded: “Is changing the world too big?”

It’s that kind of attitude that gives GDS the reach and impact it’s looking for. One of the Community Service Center’s various one-time events, GDS is an expansive program that reaches not only over 40 sites in Boston, but 15 other states and 11 other countries, according to the GDS website.

BU Students volunteered at the St. Francis House in Boston last year. |Photo Courtesy the Boston University Alumni Association Flickr.

The basic idea behind Global Day of Service started as a welcoming present for President Robert Brown, as the Day of Service, run by the Student Union. The Community Service Center took over the project two years ago, pulling in the largest number of volunteers since the first year for this year’s project, which culminated in the day of service on April 16.

“We have over 600 [undergraduate volunteers], which is absolutely amazing,” Levine said, adding that there are over 800 in Boston total.

The program is open to anyone affiliated with BU, including alumni and parents.

“It’s an amazing opportunity to involve people who aren’t necessarily involved in other aspects of the Community Service Center and reach a student population we otherwise wouldn’t access,” Levine said.

With that in mind, Levine also said that the program has a wide variety of goals, one of which is to reach the global BU community.

“It’s an opportunity to have an amazing network with people around the world who care about the same thing,” Levine said.

More than that, though, Levine focuses on the community service aspect of the project. “You don’t come to BU without loving Boston,” she explained. “This is an opportunity to reconnect with the city that we all, at one point, fell in love with… that’s given us so much.”

The community service sites have different opportunities for each individual student, with sites ranging from food kitchens to urban farms to domestic violence shelters. “The hope is that there’s no typical site and no typical volunteer,” Levine said.

No typical volunteer is right. A GDS volunteer is unique simply by virtue of being a GDS volunteer; the project is a one of the only of its kind. “Hopefully it’ll become more common,” Levine said. “It’s really uncommon to have an event at this level, to make it really, honestly a global effort.”

BU alumni in California volunteered at the Food Bank of Southern California in 2010. | Photo Courtesy the Boston University Alumni Association Flickr.

Such an effort does not come easily. For the Boston undergraduate sites alone, there were seven committee chairs, including Levine. The CSC works with Alumni Relations to set up events elsewhere, wherever there’s enough interest.

“It’s a committee effort on all fronts,” Levine stressed.

Levine also emphasized the importance that GDS has on the student body and the community. For anyone not able to participate the day of, the CSC set up an online log where volunteers could put in their hours throughout this week to contribute to the total number.

“This is something the entire student body should be proud of. At a big university, it’s sometimes hard to see what all of us have in common… but Boston is what we all have in common, and it’s important for us to come out for that,” Levine said. “Our impact on the community can only get bigger and better.”

With that thinking, it’s no surprise that Levine’s outlook on GDS is nothing but positive:

“In my mind, instead of thinking about it ‘why just one day?’, it’s… one is better than none. It’s an impact we’ll be able to see and really feel a part of,” she explained. “One day is the start and you go from there.”

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