Current Release: September 11th, 2007 | Vol. XXIV Iss. 10

PHOTOS BY ERIC ZITZ

Jones finds nitch in community service

BY MARGARET WINDLEY

mnw777@verizon.net

Brad Jones, 20, likes to help others. So it’s just right that the sophomore is program manager for Wesleyan’s Office of Community Service. There his emphases are the twice-yearly Marlins Make a Difference Day and the three times-yearly American Red Cross blood drives. He estimates that the blood drives may have raised as much as 65 to 70 pints, counting last year.

He particularly likes coordinating Marlins Make a Difference Day (MMAD). One of the service days is held on Sept. 29, and another is planned for March, 2008.

It gives him a chance to line up local charities with students willing to volunteer three hours of service.

“It makes me feel better to know that I’m helping,” said Jones, a work study student.

He volunteers as well. In the fall, he works with senior citizens, and in the spring with children.

Last year, his freshman year, was his first year coordinating MMAD. It was a little harder because he had to call around to find groups interested in the concept. MMAD had only started the year before, and people were not used to it. However, he admitted that last year, coordination went more smoothly because the service day fell a month later.

The service day focuses on four categories—working with children, the elderly, the environment and animals. The volunteers work from about 9 a.m. to noon and come back to the college for a celebration. The event brings 15 individuals by van to each site. If more than 15 want to participate at a site, they use their own transportation.

Helping others has been a big interest of the Philadelphian for years. Jones got the taste for it as a teenager when his high school required it through its clubs. The events made such an impression on him that for a while he wanted to be a social worker. But he has gotten away from that. Currently, he majors in psychology and plans to be a school psychologist. He also is a Wesleyan Ambassador who works in Admissions and takes potential students on tours.

He finds that the service day is a new experience for many Wesleyan students. Those, for instance, who have never before worked with the elderly may be surprised at them.

“They see first hand how some of the elderly would not remember their faces five minutes afterward,” said Jones.

The four sites they went to this year were Tandem Health Services, Norfolk Animal Management, F.O.R. Kids, and Lake Edward Drive. The most popular was Lake Edward Drive, a clean-up which attracted the school’s baseball team.

Diane Hotaling, director of the Office of Community Service, is impressed with Jones.

“Brad has been wonderful at identifying community agencies and determining what their needs are and connecting those needs to volunteer needs,” she said. “Brad’s role is in those short-term experiences

that speak to a lot of students.”