National Student Volunteer Day is coming up on Feb. 20, 2023, and there are numerous opportunities for Winthrop students to volunteer around the Rock Hill area.
“Volunteering is important because it allows individuals to give back to their community and helps you become a more caring and selfless person,” Paige Lillibridge, a junior English major said. “It opens your eyes to the need that exists in the world and gives you a way to help make the world a bit better than it was before.”
During the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, Winthrop students volunteered around campus and in the community.
Winthrop’s SOAR (Serving Others and Reflecting) is a student-led club that bands together to participate in volunteering activities around the community.
According to the Winthrop website, SOAR “coordinates volunteer and advocacy efforts in the following areas: Hunger and Homelessness, Children, Environment, Healthcare, Animals, Individuals with Special Needs and the Elderly.”
On SOAR’s Instagram page, they advertise various volunteering opportunities. A few upcoming opportunities include watering the garden at Victory Gardens: Emmett Scott Recreation Center on Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
SOAR’s Youth Division is taking book donations from February 12 to February 26. Books will be donated to local middle and high schools in Rock Hill. Donations can be placed in the donation box in Digs across from the information desk.
Students can also find volunteer opportunities in Rock Hill.
“I recently participated in environmental cleanup volunteer work,” Lillibridge said.
“It involved pulling weeds, planting flowers and laying mulch. It also involved cleaning up any trash in the surrounding area. I would love to see Winthrop offer volunteer opportunities where groups go and pick up litter in neglected areas or have food drives/animal shelter drives for local organizations in Rock Hill,” Lillibridge said.
Mackenzie Miller, a junior chemistry major, has volunteered with Rolling with Rock Hill, the Winthrop ambassador program and Hope for Rock Hill Food Pantry.
“I have always just loved helping people and my community,” Miller said. “Growing up, my family would always try to help those around us or help out in the community and it’s just kind of stuck with me. I really just like knowing that I was able to help someone, even if it was by doing something little for them.”
Miller has painted and cleaned houses with Rolling for Rock Hill.
“A person who has difficulty maintaining the outside of their house is nominated by someone in the community,” Miller said. “We then go over to paint their house along with helping clean up where we can.”
If students do not have the opportunity to volunteer on National Student Volunteer Day, they can begin planning to volunteer during National Volunteer Week which is from April 16, 2023, to May 7, 2023.
Information regarding volunteer opportunities with SOAR can be found on their social media pages. Students can also find volunteer opportunities by asking local businesses in the community or by talking to locals who may be more familiar with the area.
