Serving Up 118 Years of Volunteerism

The city of Spokane is about to be overtaken by Pirates! On Wednesday, Sept. 24, Whitworth’s first-year and new transfer students will fan out to area neighborhoods to live out the university’s mission of serving humanity during Community Building Day. 

Students will meet in the Whitworth Fieldhouse just after 7 a.m. and take buses to locations throughout the city. This annual day of service was started 118 years ago and is organized by Whitworth’s Dornsife Center for Community Engagement. It’s designed to show students how they can contribute to their communities in meaningful ways while seeking opportunities to serve. 

“Community Building Day is just the beginning,” says Meredith Devey, director of the Dornsife Center for Community Engagement. “This is one of the first times new Whitworth students will go out and meet their neighbors throughout Spokane. By spending a few hours learning and serving alongside their peers, they have a chance to invest in the community they want to build for themselves both on and off campus. Often, this leads to students expanding what they believe they can do both as a student and a graduate of Whitworth University.”

Here are just a few of the projects Whitworth students will be taking part in:

• Volunteers will perform light housework for residents living in several Catholic Charities of Eastern Washington (CCEW) apartment complexes.

• Whitworth students will join fifth graders from Holmes Elementary School to participate in several hours of neighborhood cleanup projects.

• Students will build and paint handicap-accessible raised garden boxes for the residents of Rockwood at Whitworth’s memory care unit.

• Whitworth will continue its partnership with Parasport Spokane, bringing athletes to campus so students can service their sports wheelchairs and then experience wheelchair basketball. 

About Community Building Day:

Community Building Day began in 1907 as a student-led campus beautification endeavor called Campus Day. In the mid-1990s, the event evolved into a partnership between local nonprofit organizations and Whitworth volunteers who work on cleanup and improvement projects throughout Spokane.

About Whitworth University:

Located in Spokane, Wash., Whitworth is a private liberal arts university affiliated with the Presbyterian church. The university, which has an enrollment of about 2,500 students, offers more than 100 undergraduate and graduate degree programs.

Contacts:

Trisha Coder, associate director of media relations, Whitworth University, (509) 777-4703 or tcoder@whitworth.edu