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Students take the plunge and volunteer

April 16, 1998

Students and staff will arm themselves with paint brushes next week for projects surrounding National Volunteer Week.

Across Dane County on April 25, UW–Madison students, faculty and staff will be engaging in good works.

Called Community Plunge, the event, scheduled for 9 a.m.-4 p.m., will conclude Dane County Promise Volunteer Week, April 17-25. The week is sponsored by the UW- Madison Morgridge Center for Public Service, United Way’s Volunteer Center, and the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program.

The more than 120 members of the UW–Madison community expected to take the Plunge will assist with a number of service activities. According to event organizer Jesse Fisher, a junior majoring in sociology, volunteer opportunities will range from environmental projects to working with the elderly to taking care of children.

“It’s a wonderful way for students to go beyond the university and the classroom, and get out into the greater Madison community,” she says. “Besides, it’s great fun!” For more information about the event, contact Fisher at 263-2432.

Volunteer Week will begin April 17 with a book signing by Ada Deer at the University Book Store-Hilldale. Deer, senior lecturer in the UW–Madison School of Social Work, is one of 100 personalities included in the anthology Stone Soup for the World, a celebration of public service. She was on leave between 1992-96 to serve as assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of the Interior for Indian Affairs; she also headed the federal gaming commission. The signing will begin at 7 p.m.

Other activities during Volunteer Week will include:

  • Youth Service Day, April 18, 9 a.m. More than 500 middle and high school students from around Dane County will participate in service activities.
  • Volunteer Fair and Help-a-Thon, April 24, 4-9 p.m., Westgate Mall. Representatives from a variety of service organizations will offer potential volunteers more information on how to help. Phone banks will stay open until 11 p.m.

For more information about Dane County Promise Volunteer Week, contact Susan Vande Hei, of the Morgridge Center, (608) 263-4009.