On April 2, Service Raleigh volunteers braved early morning showers—and the early start time—to serve the greater Raleigh community.

This year saw the first significant rain in Service Raleigh’s 8-year history, but the thunder, strong winds and occasional showers didn’t keep participants from making it to the Brickyard for the 8:30 a.m. opening events. An estimated 2,000 volunteers congregated under Harrelson Hall before heading to their sites, an increase over last year’s count of 1,700.

While the bad weather forced some changes—a few groups were shifted to other sites due to rain—most groups were able to complete their projects. Sites included the Summit House of Raleigh, multiple Raleigh parks and the Race for Respect on Centennial Campus. Other volunteers worked with Keep America Beautiful to clean Yonkers Road, picking up a total of 7,000 pounds of trash.

In addition to campus groups, this year’s Service Raleigh drew volunteers from the community, enlisting students from two high school National Honor Societies and targeting local churches, schools and businesses in Research Triangle Park. The Park Alumni Society also registered a group for the first time.

Volunteers from the PAS worked with several campus groups at Anderson Pointe Park, planting trees with Trees Across Raleigh. Despite the muddy conditions, 800 trees were planted in the area. As it began to clear, the group moved to Trees Across Raleigh’s planting site, helping pot more than 1,400 saplings for future projects.

Service Raleigh was founded in 1998, as a joint collaboration between the Park Scholarships and NC State’s Student Government. Funding for the event comes from several sources; Each year, the Park Scholarships donates $9,000, along with $1,500 from Student Government and $250 from Trees Across Raleigh.

For more information about Service Raleigh, visit www.ncsu.edu/serviceraleigh.

Above, PAS Volunteers at the Trees Across Raleigh site. From left to right: Terrell Russell (2000), Kim Bloomfield (2002), Ricky Bloomfield (2002) and Chris Muller (2002).

~posted 2005.04.03