Students give back during Service Saturday at the American Red Cross

The American Red Cross headquarters in Evansville are a little brighter thanks to a group of USI students.

Sixteen student volunteers washed American Red Cross vehicles, painted a shed, cleaned and restocked supply trailers and entered data for three hours during Service Saturday, a community service event organized by Student Development Programs on September 28.

"Service Saturday has been a great program to educate students, especially those new to the Evansville community, about local issues. Partnering with the American Red Cross helped students learn about their services and gave them a way to volunteer with an important local organization," said John Race, senior program coordinator with Student Development Programs.

At the inaugural Service Saturday event in 2018, 42 USI students joined hundreds of community members to help build Mickey's Kingdom Park along Evansville's riverfront.

"Giving back to your community is a great feeling and a wonderful thing to do," said Kirstyn Linne '22, biology, USI's student group leader for the 2019 project. "The volunteer experience is like no other. It gives you a sense of satisfaction that you just helped someone's life be a little easier and a little less stressful. Sometimes, that's all you can do. I would recommend volunteering, or even becoming a group leader in a service project, to anyone."