UTRGV will celebrate National Make a Difference Day across the Rio Grande Valley by volunteering at several locations on Saturday.
“National Make A Difference Day is an annual community service event, which is held on the fourth Saturday in October,” according to an email sent to The Rider earlier today. “Millions of people have united in the common mission to improve the lives of others.”
The UTRGV community can choose from different activities, such as installing smoke detectors with the American Red Cross, judging a UIL competition at Sharyland North Junior High or sorting, inspecting, cleaning and packaging donated products at the Food Bank of the Rio Grande Valley.
Leadership and Social Change Program Coordinator Vanessa Sandoval said the volunteering opportunities will have various time frames.
“Some will be in the morning, some will start at [8 a.m.], some will start, maybe, later at [9 a.m.], some will be in the evening,” Sandoval said. “We’ll be partnering also, or, volunteering at Haunted Trails for the City of Brownsville and that’s an evening volunteer opportunity, so, from [6 to 10 p.m.] So, it just depends.”
The participating organizations include:
–National Butterfly Center, 3333 Butterfly Park in Mission
–South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center, 6801 Padre Blvd.
–Ozanam Center, 656 N. Minnesota Ave. in Brownsville
–McAllen Nature Center, 4101 W. U.S. Business Hwy 83 in McAllen
–Good Neighbor Settlement House, 1254 E. Tyler St. in Brownsville
–Habitat for Humanity of the Rio Grande Valley 412 W. Ash Ave. in McAllen
–Yaqui Animal Rescue, 500 Venecia Drive in Sullivan City
–Spanish Meadows, 440 E. Ruben M. Torres Blvd. in Brownsville
–American Red Cross, 6914 W. Expy. 83 in Harlingen
–Sharyland North Junior High UIL Meet, 5100 Dove Ave. in McAllen
–Food Bank of the Rio Grande Valley, 724 N. Cage Blvd. in Pharr
To register, visit the Engagement Zone website, https://ez.utrgv.edu/need/?s=1&need_init_id=2417.
The deadline to register is 5 p.m. Wednesday.
For more information, email volunteer@utrgv.edu.
–Leslie Medrano contributed to this report.
