CyServe Council will be holding its main fall semester volunteering activity, CyServe Day, this Saturday.

The main goal of CyServe Day is to gather student volunteers and make them aware of volunteering opportunities in the ISU and Ames areas. It also serves as a representation of the volunteer work that ISU students do for the Ames community.

“One of CyServe’s main goals is to aid in linking the Ames community to Iowa State students through nonprofit organizations,” said Mike Stewart, events co-chairman of the CyServe Council.

In order to accomplish this, there will be a number of volunteer events on the ISU campus and throughout the Ames area available for students to participate as a part of CyServe Day.

Such events include Keep Iowa State Beautiful, where students will split up into groups with each group covering a different section of campus and remove any trash they find.

Cards for Kids, another popular event, allows students to help put together coloring books for children in need. 

Food at First uses volunteers to help with a local food drive, these activities are only a few of the events that students can volunteer for.

“CyServe has done such a great job putting this event together over the past few months,” said Danielle Paris, graduate assistant for the Student Activities Center service programs. “The student response to CyServe Day has been amazing.”

Along with the Food at First food drive, there is a second food drive event being put on with the help of the Daily called Stuff the Bus.

For Stuff the Bus, three different CyRide buses will be placed at different grocery stores throughout  Ames. People can buy groceries and donate them to a food drive by putting them on the bus. Eventually, the goal is to “stuff” all three buses with groceries, which will then be donated to Mid-Iowa Community Action Inc, a local food pantry.

Other events that might not draw as many volunteers, but are still important to the success of CyServe Day are ACCESS and Heartland Adult Day Center.

The Assault Care Center Extending Shelter and Support is a care center that provides support for victims of abuse. Volunteers will be assisting the staff of the care center with cleaning and organizing the kitchen, as well as doing general maintenance work outdoors.

Similarly, for Heart-

land Adult Day Center volunteers they will be washing windows and helping clean the property of Heartland Senior Center of Story County.

CyServe Day provides students with volunteering experience that can benefit them in more ways than one.

“We’re going to make an incentive plan, so the more hours you volunteer, the more rewards you can get,” said Benjamin Jacobson, co-director of CyServe Council. “Getting outside and helping people out is always a great opportunity.”