Letter to the Editor: Buenafication Day Committee
As a committee, we appreciate that concerns were voiced about Buenafication Day in a previously published opinion article. We would now like to provide the readers of the Tack with some additional information. We are sorry to hear that some volunteers perceived their work at some service sites to be less meaningful than they had hoped or wanted. As most servant leaders know, service is not always about what we want; it is about fulfilling a need. It is the Buenafication Day Committee’s job to balance the students’ wants with the needs of non-profits and our community. If we were to go into non-profits and other service sites and tell them what their needs are, we would not be engaging in reciprocal relationships which would be doing more harm than good.
While some may not see activities like playing Bingo as meaningful, it is actually impactful for Methodist Manor and their residents. The state requires that they have residents in contact with others; we meet that need in an enjoyable manner. Our local elementary school is filled with students a majority of whom live below the poverty line. Reading books to these children shows that people care about them and about education. Further, as we are college students, we have the ability to inspire a dream of attending college in one or more of those children. We find this activity to be simple yet immensely impactful in the life a child.
Every student here at BVU has different skills, interests, and passions that will influence what they find to be meaningful. A lot of time and effort goes into attempting to match organizations with service sites which utilize those differences most effectively. Organizations are given the opportunity to suggest and request service sites that align best with the goals of the group. We list all projects and sites online so that students can choose where they would like to serve on Buenafication Day. The Buenafication Day Committee is always trying to make the day more fulfilling and inspiring and we encourage everyone with great ideas to get involved with the planning for next year! There are budgetary restrictions which limit the extravagance of projects, but we do include service sites in Alta, Fonda, Newell, Sac City, and of course Storm Lake. Spreading our volunteers among these surrounding communities is our best effort at avoiding what is called “volunteer saturation.” Volunteer saturation occurs when there is more volunteer power than work to be accomplished. We are very interested in further expanding our geographic impact, but we need to address the important issue of transportation which brings with it financial and time constraints. Our approach to service sites, once again, is seeing what the community need is and addressing it the best way we can within our financial means.
The idea of serving in smaller groups throughout the year is actually being brainstormed and attempted through collaboration between Student MOVE and Student Senate. The plan is called “Adopt a Day” and organizations, groups, and teams are encouraged to “adopt a day” with a local non-profit and meet their needs as best as the group can. If you are interested in participating in this idea, tell your organization leaders! Contact Student MOVE or a Student Senator and get involved. We feel very strongly, however, that having these group projects replace Buenafication Day would be unfortunate as it is wonderful to see just how much everyone on campus cares about our community and it helps to unite all of BVU’s community with that of Storm Lake.
We understand that the weather has not been ideal on either of the past two Buenafication Days. A lot of non-profits have large scale projects for students to complete, but much of that work needs to be done outside. Service sites plan for sun and when rain comes, they do the best that they can with what they have. We hope that the weather will cooperate in future years so that all students can experience the wonder of a warm, sunny Buenafication Day.
Another issue that planners encounter is that people do not always register for the day. When volunteers do not register but still show up, the non-profit has more volunteers than work plans. This can result in the saturation effect we mentioned earlier. When large amounts of people arrive to work, the pre-planned work load does not always occupy the volunteers for the established time period. Further, our student volunteers do not always have skill sets that equip them to fulfill the pressing needs and more extensive service projects of our community. More intensive projects require further onsite training which we don’t always have the time or resources to complete.
Is Buenafication Day service truly important for the Storm Lake community? The answer is a resounding yes. Participating service sites are in charge of their projects and align those projects with their needs. The answer is yes because over 1435 people met those needs and served over 4916 hours of service May 1st, 2014. Each volunteer hour is estimated by the Independent Sector to be worth $22.55. This means that we invested over $110,885 worth of work into the Storm Lake community in just a single day. That single day of volunteerism inspires many participants to stay involved in service activities throughout the rest of the year, making an even greater impact on our world.
We encourage any student to stop by the Office of Civic Engagement to share questions, concerns, and feedback on Buenafication Day and any other service topics of interest. We are always looking for ways to improve the day and we can only work on issues you find important if we hear from you.
