More than 6,000 Ohio University students participate in volunteer activities each year. They plant
gardens, organize food drives, clean up along highways, promote literacy and perform many other
services on campus and in the community.
As part of National Volunteer Week, the university's Center for Community Service is sponsoring
volunteer opportunities every day this week and honoring individuals who regularly donate their time to
various projects. Each day this week, we are profiling students whose community service efforts have
earned them recognition. For more information about Center for Community Service activities this week,
go to www.ohiou.edu/news/99-00/254.html
Student Volunteer is Game for Anything
Gretchen Rivera knows her way around a Scrabble board and is a worthy opponent at Uno -- but not
because she has an idle social life. She's become quite the game enthusiast while volunteering at The
Gathering Place in Athens, a nonprofit socialization agency for people dealing with mental illness.
"We play a lot of games, do crafts and argue about what's happening in the news," says 20-year-old
Rivera of the Cleveland area. "I try to make it a fun and comfortable atmosphere."
But her game strategy isn't the only thing this Honors Tutorial College student is refining. Every day,
Rivera learns more about interacting with people from diverse backgrounds.
"I've learned so much about different people and what they have to deal with," she says. "They have a lot
of issues in their lives, including how society stigmatizes people with mental illness."
Rivera has been volunteering at The Gathering Place for about a year and also spends time at My Sister's
Place, a local shelter for battered women and children, and ATCO, a nonprofit employment and training
center for people with disabilities. Although she began volunteering at Athens agencies as part of her
studies as a social work major, she's been donating her time to service projects throughout her life,
including food banks, nursing homes and summer camps.
"Volunteering gives you a perspective you don't get in the classroom," she says. "When I'm doing it, I
usually forget about everything else that's going on in my life. And when I'm not volunteering, it's like
something's missing."
Rivera would like to continue volunteering after graduation next June and is looking into service
opportunities in Puerto Rico, where much of her extended family lives.
