During Global Service Week, they cleaned parks, served food and helped provide clothing — all for the smiles

Ankita Singh put a lot of effort into the volunteer project but the smiles made it all worthwhile.

“It was a little tough, like we had to manage lots and lots of work over there. But seeing people’s smiley faces made me feel very happy,” Singh said. 

Singh, a regulatory affairs graduate student at the Toronto campus, was among a group of Northeastern volunteers who helped sort and restock a clothing bank at New Circles Community Services, a nonprofit that provides clothing and skills training programs to equity-deserving individuals. She also assisted customers with finding items of clothing they needed.

Singh said that her parents used to take her sister and her to an orphanage in India to donate clothes, food and medicine, and the volunteer project reminded her of that experience.

The volunteer effort in Toronto was one of many during last week’s inaugural Global Service Week across eight of Northeastern’s campuses. 

For many years, Northeastern hosted an annual Fall Service Day for students studying on the Boston campus. This year the university launched the first Global Service Week for campuses across its global network. 

Students, faculty and staff participated in service projects and events, investing in and strengthening bonds with local communities in Charlotte, Miami, Vancouver, Seattle, Toronto, Silicon Valley and Portland in addition to Boston. 

Service opportunities ranged from park cleanups to serving food to community members in need to helping customers finding clothing items at a clothes bank to donation drives. 

Each campus was able to customize the projects to its community’s needs.

In Miami, for example, students visited Chapman Partnership, a private sector partner to the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust that operates two shelters and provides a range of services such as tutoring, child care, and health, dental and psychiatric care to individuals and families. 

Volunteers toured one of the facilities and learned about holistic programs and services offered by the organization before putting hairnets and gloves on and helping kitchen staff prepare and serve lunch to 500 residents of the facility. 

Tamara Palmer, a graduate student at the Miami campus, said that everyone should give back to the community.

“Today was a great opportunity,” she said.

In Toronto, students volunteered at three organizations over three days.

Adnan Irshad, a project management graduate student, volunteered with Don’t Mess with Don!, a community organization that takes care of the Don Valley trail system. 

Irshrad helped plant trees and replace non-native plants with native ones. It wasn’t easy work, he said, but volunteers got to use various equipment and had fun.

“You need to feel gratitude about where you live and the ecosystem we belong to, and how we can protect it,”  Irshad said. “It can enhance the [feeling of] stewardship inside you, and these small efforts which we make have a big impact on the ecosystem we live in.”

Aarushi Sharma, an analytics graduate student, also volunteered at New Circles. She said more than 100 people came to the clothes bank that day and volunteers were kept busy sorting clothes and restocking shelves. 

The experience reinforced the value of good teamwork, she said.

“I feel I will just go back again whenever I have time,” Sharma said. 

In Boston, the Global Service Week consisted of a dozen projects, including gardening in the Fenway area of the city. On a rainy Saturday morning a team of Northeastern students removed garbage, pulled weeds and created a foundation for mulching in association with Fenway Civic Association, an all-volunteer organization that promotes and sustains the historic neighborhood.

“I really do love sustainability projects,” said Caralena Genova, a first-year biology student and member of Northeastern’s Alliance of Civically Engaged Students (ACES). “For all of us working in service in Boston, it’s important to be a good citizen and contribute to the city that you’re living in.”

The work helps to maintain trees and lengthen their lifespan, said Kelly Durning, an ACES peer coordinator.

“We’re engaging in the community as opposed to just living on the campus,” added Sonia Chomiczewski, a first-year student in environmental studies and international affairs. “And we’re getting out and seeing other parts of the city.”

The students worked alongside Fenway Civic board members, who provided local knowledge and advice.

“The tree mulching is so important because it supports the goals of the city’s Urban Forestry plan to build environmental health and climate resiliency,” said Marie Fukuda, a community/open-space advocate and fundraiser for the Fenway Civic Association. 

“We need more hands-on support that not only ensures that trees are planted across the city but makes sure they can grow and thrive once they are here.”