Photo Courtesy Leadership & Mentoring
Sol Garcia | THE RIDER
Engaged Scholarship and Learning along with Student Involvement and Community Engagement will be releasing a list of remote engagement opportunities potentially this week, said Estela De La Garza, program coordinator for Engaged Scholarship and Learning.
The list will be uploaded to the Engaged Scholarship and Learning’s university page, De La Garza said.
“These are public offerings, but … we wanted to make sure to make it a little bit easier for students when they’re looking at virtual services,” she said.
Before COVID-19, students would often volunteer through Engagement Zone, a platform for organizations to post any volunteer opportunities. Now, Engagement Zone doesn’t have many public needs listed for volunteers, De La Garza said.
“We don’t want students to think that they are required to go out into the community,” she said.
However, Engaged Scholarship and Learning encourages students to continue to help the community during the pandemic.
“If [students are] not already actively searching, we can at least still share that there are opportunities out there, and maybe they can think a little bit different in how they’re committing,” she said.
When students serve the community, they gain a learning experience. They learn teambuilding and career-relevant skills, as well as network with potential employers, De La Garza said.
“They’re taking what they’re learning here on campus … out into the community,” she said.
Students who are interested in volunteering in person can do so at local food banks, animal shelters and meal programs.
During the weekdays, volunteers ages 18 to 55 can help package and distribute food for community members at the Food Bank of the Rio Grande Valley, located in Pharr. On Wednesdays, volunteers place commodities or emergency relief dry good bags in the trunks of clients’ vehicles. The drive-thru distribution is completely no-contact and safe for volunteers, said Olivia Lemus, manager of Volunteer and Donor Services at Food Bank of the RGV.
“The client and the volunteer are never going to have an interaction, so it’s very safe,” she said.
During the other weekdays, volunteers will package food items. At the two stations for packaging and distributing, there is a maximum of 10 volunteers. Per day, there is a maximum of 20 volunteers in total, Lemus said.
“We’re continuing … to evaluate how it’s working and how it’s functioning, and thus far, it’s been … working phenomenally,” she said.
To volunteer, applicants must fill a registration form that can be found on its website at https://www.foodbankrgv.com.
Students can also volunteer at Palm Valley Animal Society at either of its two shelters in Edinburg. Some responsibilities may be walking dogs and helping clean up around the shelters with safety measures in place, said Julian Whitacre, development coordinator for PVAS.
“There’s all kinds of duties and all kinds of tasks that you can help out with,” he said.
PVAS is social distancing while requiring facial masks. Additionally, everyone who enters a facility must have their temperature checked, whether it’s volunteers, employees or people looking to adopt, Whitacre said.
Students and other community members can sign up to volunteer at PVAS on its website at https://www.pvastx.org.
Amigos Del Valle is also accepting volunteers. Volunteers can assist in the non-profit organization’s meal program, Meal-On-Wheels. Those who have a driver’s license and their own vehicle with insurance can deliver food to seniors in the meal program and receive 14 cents per mile at the end of the month, said Anita Jenny, nutrition director at Amigos Del Valle.
Volunteers will leave the meal outside seniors’ homes while wearing facial coverings and masks provided by the organization. They will also be provided hand sanitizers.
“We do follow all the CDC safety guidelines just for the safety of our volunteers, our staff and our seniors,” she said.
Volunteers can also help distribute food at one of the 28 centers throughout Hidalgo, Willacy and Cameron County. The distribution is a curbside pickup system, and all facilities are regularly sanitized for safety, Jenny said.
Volunteers must be at least 18 and complete an application found on https://www.advrgv.org.
Students who volunteer in person should communicate with organizations about safety procedures that are in place along with adhering to CDC guidelines, De La Garza said.
“Although [students] are going out into the community, because they want to make a difference … they do also need to realize that there are health implications that may be there as well,” she said.
