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
Big Brother Finds Rewards in New Relationship
Graduate student Justin Zimmerman has assumed the role of Big Brother to
an area middle school student with extraordinary ease. After all, it hasn't
been that long since 22-year-old Zimmerman was a teen-ager himself.
"When a lot of people get older, they tend to forget what they dealt with
when they were teen-agers, but we can relate because we have many of the
same interests," Zimmerman says of his "younger brother," a 14-year-old
from Coolville.
Zimmerman, a film major from Wooster, is an active participant in Big
Brothers Big Sisters of Athens County, a local chapter of the national
program that unites adults with youth in need of a caring friend and
mentor. Zimmerman and his friend spend at least one evening a week
together, talking about everything from family issues to films and music.
"He's a very bright and open kid who likes different kinds of music and
drawing," he says. "We do homework and talk about what's going on in school."
Although this is Zimmerman's first stint as a Big Brother, volunteerism
always has been a part of his life. Throughout high school and his
undergraduate years at Ohio State University, he worked with people with
mental disabilities and volunteered at schools and summer camps.
Zimmerman plans to develop a series of films about several unique
individuals he's met through his years of community service.
"Many of these people are socially disadvantaged, and they are more
amazing than I will ever be," he says. "They're very strong."
