Students looking for ways to fill up some free time doing something both fun and productive will find incentive to volunteer through the 10,000 Hours Show.

The show is a “student-led outreach effort to recruit and recognize young volunteers who serve Story County nonprofit organizations,” according to the 10,000 Hours Show website.

The program serves as a way for ISU students to lend a hand doing volunteer work, with the incentive of a free concert for volunteering for at least 10 hours.

This year the 10,000 Hours Show will hosting indie-rock band Paper Route with, local band Modern Day Satire opening for the show at 7 p.m. April 9 at the Maintenance Shop.

The 10,000 Hours Show began in 2004 at the University of Iowa and during the course of seven years, has spread across Iowa.

Since its beginning, the program has split into two chapters. One of the chapters is the 10,000 Hours Show of Central Iowa, run through Iowa State and Drake University. The other chapter is the 10,000 Hours Show of Eastern Iowa, run by the University of Iowa. Currently, more than 200 people within the Ames community have been volunteering their time for the organization this year, racking up more than 2,700 hours.

“Volunteering is important to me and sometimes it is difficult to find the time to go out and volunteer,” said Laura Coombs, senior in management. “10,000 Hours reminds students of upcoming volunteer opportunities; and seeing the number of hours students have volunteered is really awesome.”

“I have a passion for volunteering and saw the 10,000 Hours Show to be a great organization to continue my volunteering efforts with,” said Jennifer Vong, freshman in pre-business.

Being a freshman, this is Vong’s first year in 10,000 Hours. A friend of hers participated last year and encouraged Vong to join. Vong’s passion for volunteering gained her the position of outreach coordinator of the ISU chapter of the 10,000 Hours Show.

“I deal with getting volunteers at [Iowa State] and in the community involved and excited about 10,000 Hours,” Vong said. “I recruit by making presentations as well as encouraging current volunteers to continue their work and reach their hours.”

Vong likes being able to “make an impact by getting other students involved and make them realize volunteering is a meaningful and powerful way to feel a part of the Ames community.”

Many students in this organization appreciate how easy it is for them to find volunteer activities to fill in their hours.

“With the 10,000 Hour Show, it makes it so easy to find all kinds of volunteer opportunities right on their website,” said Luke Stephenson, junior in mechanical engineering. “So you find whatever fits your fancy, then you just go on the website, log your hours and after 10, you can go to the concert.”

Some members choose to do their volunteer activities individually, while others choose to fulfill their 10 hours through activities they perform with other clubs. Stephenson fulfilled his 10 hours last year through his work with Habitat for Humanity, while Coombs chose to fulfill her time with ACCESS, a local women’s shelter, as well as Dance Marathon and CyServe.

“The volunteer events are individual, but 10,000 Hours sends out e-mails of upcoming volunteer opportunities,” Coombs said. “There are some organized volunteer activities, which is great because you get an opportunity to meet a handful of Iowa Staters who are dedicated to service in the Ames community.”