Once again, the Community College of Rhode Island has lived up to its name as nearly 250 volunteers, made up of students, faculty and staff from the college, visited various non-profits across the state for as day of community service.

The 9th annual Community Service Day kicked off All College Week, an annual tradition established by President Ray Di Pasquale after he came to the college as a week to benefit and recognize the school and its members’ achievements. Di Pasquale visited many of the volunteer sites on Tuesday.

He said, “When I arrived at CCRI, I started Community Service Day as a way to give back to the communities surrounding our campuses. I am proud of the way our students, faculty and staff come together on this day, and it is a great opportunity to share our time and talents with some wonderful organizations that help our fellow Rhode Islanders. I was able to visit several of our nine sites on Tuesday and, despite the chilly and rainy weather, I saw our team accomplishing some fantastic work. We’re glad to be able to help these worthy nonprofit groups.”

Richard Coren, Director of Marketing for CCRI and a co-coordinator of the Community Service Day, said, “The name of the college and its mission all implies that we want to partner with the communities we work in, to be a good neighbor. The community service day is one of the ways we fulfill that mission.”

The community service is not mandatory, but Coren said it is a very popular program. The nine volunteer sites fill up quick, and if the school had access to more site coordinators he said they could easily have a few hundred more volunteers for the day.

Several of the volunteer opportunities were right here in Warwick, the Steamship Historical Society of America, the Rhode Island Family Shelter and House of Hope women’s shelter on Shippen Avenue.

The other volunteer opportunities were at Sandpipers Early Learning Center, Gen. Nathaniel Greene Homestead Association, Gotta Have Sole Foundation, NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley, Providence Children’s Museum and the Ronald McDonald House.

The Steamship Historical Society of America consolidated their various locations across the Northeast eight months ago in Warwick and is preparing to open their doors to researchers on May 22.

With hundreds of years worth of material that needed to be sorted through, volunteers focused on organizing postcards and cataloguing books for the organization’s library. Matthew Schulte, the executive director for the historical society, said that there are upwards of 20,000 postcards collected over 50 years that have just sat in boxes.

Annie Kennedy, who works at CCRI’s Knight Campus in Warwick, said not many other workplaces are afforded the opportunities CCRI does and she didn’t know why someone wouldn’t take the opportunity to donate their time. She chose the historical society because she has always been interested in history.

She said, “I love history and I knew working here I would really be able to get my hands on it. I have been reading correspondences from the 1900s and that’s just so cool.”

“This has been huge for us because we only have three full-time staff and we have a lot of back log to get through,” Schulte said. “These volunteers have been working so hard and we still have hundreds of years worth of stuff to get through that have just been shoved into things.”

He believes that CCRI and Di Pasquale set an amazing example not only as an educational center but also as a community partner.

At the Family Shelter, which student Mallory Moniz claimed the best place on the list, volunteers cleaned the facilities from top to bottom.

Ellen Schulte, site coordinator for the shelter and a public relations officer for CCRI, said unlike other places where students choose based on their interests volunteers for shelter have their heart strings pulled and really want to make a difference in the lives of the families that stay there.

“This is an extension of the pride we feel for CCRI in general. It’s a great way for CCRI staff, faculty and students to celebrate our school and the communities we work in,” Schulte said. “It’s just so rewarding. People really want the opportunity to help, and CCRI gives them an outlet for that.”

According to Patti Macreading, executive director of the Rhode Island Family shelter, the shelter normally wouldn’t have the manpower nor the funds for the “true spring cleaning” the volunteers achieved. Volunteers scrubbed walls, disinfected toys and cleaned floors all day long.

“After the winter we had, all closed up and stuffy, it feels good to smell a little spring in here. This has really brought out the sparkle,” Macreading said. “When our clients come back they are going to see just how nice everything looks and be able to say this is my home.”

Those who volunteered to work at House of Hope’s women’s shelter got the short end of the stick, clearing out the yard and garden for the shelter in the rain.

Some of the proposed jobs couldn’t be done but, according to Theresa LaPerche, site coordinator and volunteer and peer mentor coordinator for House of Hope, most of the volunteers promised to come back to finish the job when the weather improved.

There were a few who stuck it out through the rain to rake up leaves and clear out the overgrown garden for the spring planting.

Ashley Belmore and Anita Davis, both students at CCRI, said they really dedicated to helping the women’s shelter.

“I have never really done community service before, but I had personal experience and I felt I was obligated to help at the women’s shelter,” Belmore said.

Davis said, “I know what it is like to be in this situation, to be struggling and needing help. I’ve been there before and I was lucky enough to get help. This is my way of paying it forward. I am going to be here for anyone that needs it.”

LaPerche said, “I think what means more is how many of these volunteers want to come back. Once they are here they realize that it could happen to you, to your mother, your sister and they become invested. The homeless are part of the community and people want to be part of a solution.”