The ISU Volunteer Placement Center was in danger of falling apart last year, but the efforts of a few Iowa State students has put the center back on its feet.

The center helps students, faculty, staff and Ames community members to create volunteer projects.

Jamie Krambeer, public relations director of the center, said many structural changes within the organization and the university caused the placement center to nearly collapse.

Changes included renovations in the Memorial Union last year and a cut in the funds allocated by the Government of the Student Body.

Krambeer said the center lost its office space, two computers and many valuable items because of the renovations.

“It’s really hard to run an organization without an office or a phone,” said Ahnalee Luchtel, a senior in journalism and mass communication and volunteer staff member.

Krambeer said the budget cut hurt the center most.

The center only received $2,336.60 from GSB last fall, which was nearly half of what the center got the year before.

“We had to get rid of our only paid position,” Luchtel said. “Without someone at the center full-time, it began to deteriorate.”

Lutchel said she placed fliers around campus and put advertisements in the Iowa State Daily last spring to recruit more students to work in the center.

She said her efforts generated a good response and she was able to put together an exceptional staff for the center.

“The new staffs have really got the center organized,” Luchtel said.

She said the center is going to get a lot accomplished this year.

“Last year we were in no position to serve ISU students or the Ames community, but this year we are,”Luchtel said.

Krambeer said more than 200 students signed up as volunteers at ClubFest, and a service project related to the Homecoming Festival is going to be held this semester.

She said a staff member of the center, Rebekah Dassion, created a World Wide Web page for the organization last spring, which helps familiarize people with the center.

Krambeer said Jennifer Raymond, director of the volunteer center, put together a group of university faculty and staff and Ames community members in an effort to establish an advisory board for the organization.

Raymond said the board will act as a guide for the center, aid in the transition of the volunteer staff and increase its interaction with the Ames community.

Located at East Student Office Space in the Memorial Union, the ISU Volunteer Placement Center has created individual and group volunteer projects for ISU and the Ames Community since 1970.