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That’s right! Spring Semester is well under way! The CSC is here to make sure you’re semester is off to a great start with lots of volunteering!

A couple of things to keep on your radar:

Is your New Year’s Resolution to volunteer or get more involved?

Volunteer with a CSC program this semester! Some applications are up now and more programs will have them up in the coming weeks.

Check out our Open Houses on:

Thursday, January 26th and Friday, January 27th from 10am-4pm in the GSU Link.

Applications to be a Summer Student Leader are up! Apply to be First Year Student Outreach Project Coordinator (FYCO), CSC Program Assistant  and Orientation Leader. Apps are due Wednesday, January 25. Info Session: Tuesday, January 24 at 6pm in Howard Thurman Center

January 29 is Alternative Spring Breaks Registration Day!

With so many trips, how does one decide which trip to go on?

Check out the ASB Open Houses on:

Tuesday, January 24th and Wednesday, January 25th at 8pm in GSU Back Court

Be sure to check out the ASB GSU Link Table every day next week for a fun SCAVENGER HUNT. (Follow @BUASB on Twitter and Boston University Alternative Spring Breaks on Facebook)

We know it’s hard to decide but, to help, there’s an awesome map to get an overview of what each trip is about. And of course, check out each trips’ AMAZING (if we do say so ourselves) blogs.

That’s all for now! Good luck with your first week of classes!

That’s right folks! It’s World Aids Week! December 1 is World Aids Day & we have a lots going on this week to help kick off this week of awareness!

In addition to testing all week, which will be happening throughout campus during the week, there are 3 awesome events you don’t want to miss!

Thursday, December 1 9am-5pm: World Aids Day GSU Link Takeover with CONDOMS & Red Ribbons!

Thursday, December 1, 7:30pm, Law Auditorium: Global Meets Local. Hear first person testimonials from people in South Africa by your favorite people at BU. This event is sponsored by Triad Trust, an amazing non-profit organization working on the ground in the territories of North Africa

Friday, December 2, 3:00-5:00pm, Howard Thurman Center: Coffee & Convo with Dean Elmore and MTV’s Staying Alive campaign head Georgia Arnolds (Check out the entertaining videos made for the campaign, such as the one at the end of this blog.)

Don’t miss out on these great events! And if you have Twitter (follow us on on @BUCSC if you don’t already!).. the twitter handle for World Aids Day is #buworldaidsday11!

Spread the word about these wonderful events & not HIV/AIDS!

Stay safe & remember to always wear a condom!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR BOSTON UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY SERVICE CENTER, *BREATHE* HAPPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!

You heard right, folks! It’s our 25th Birthday this fall and we are celebrating this Friday in the only way we know how

CSC STYLE!

So come one, come all and don’t forget to wear your favorite CSC shirt if you have one!

And for those volunteers over 21, we hope to see you at the BU Pub after the event!

Also, this week we kicked off our Angel Tree Campaign, where students can get together & purchase gifts for families in need.

Sign up online with a few friends or your student group to help make a difference. Sign up before Thanksgiving and you will be able to catch Black Friday sales and shop at home, where presents might be cheaper.

….and the Volunteer of the Week is…

Everyone this week is the volunteer of the week! We can’t wait to see you all on Friday! Keep volunteering and making us proud!

For those of you who don’t know the Community Service Center is turning 25 this fall! We are so excited to be celebrating on November 18th at 7pm in the Guitar Center (which is underneath General Classroom Building)!

Get excited! Also, next week, there will be a scavenger hunt via Twitter and Facebook. Find a gift bag in the hidden spots around campus and win a birthday prizes!

This week on Twitter, we asked you why you love CSC and how it is as made an impact on your life. This is what you tweeted:

Thanks for your tweets and we can’t wait to celebrate next week! Don’t forget to email photos to cscphoto@bu.edu you think represent the CSC.

This Saturday, join Student Food Rescue at Community Serving’s Pie in the Sky! SIgn up for this awesome event. A few hours can help feed a family this Thanksgiving!

…Last but not least, our volunteer of the week is….

EVAN KURAS

Congrats to Evan and all our volunteers who make us proud!

This Thursday is a CSC favorite: The Children’s Theatre Dress Rehearsal!

Children’s Theatre is a program in which students brainstorm, write and produce skits for children at shelters, hospitals and community centers. Students, arranged in troupes, have been working hard all year on their plays. During the dress rehearsal put on for BU students, CT usually puts a fun spin on their plays adapting the plays for more mature audiences. Get ready to laugh and have a food time! Best part: It’s free!

…AND the Volunteer of the Week is…

Ky Krekel

Ky’s work as a Siblings Peer Leader this year has been extremely invaluable. She has done a great job of engaging her peer group. Her assistance during the Halloween Party this past Saturday was extremely helpful. After spending the day with her Sibling, Ky returned to the party to help with clean-up. As many of our volunteers had to leave, the clean-up was very short-staffed. Ky helped with extremely difficult tasks with a smile on her face. She went out into the rain and mud to clean up the pumpkin painting area. She then helped to carry supplies back to the CSC and even then stayed to clean off the dirty paintbrushes. Ky was so willing and happy to help when one of the PMs needed her. Ky is such a great asset to the Siblings Peer Leader team!

Congrats to Ky and all the other CSC Volunteers who makes us proud!

This Halloween week: Scare away hunger by giving away two meals to Oxfam America in the dining halls. When you see people outside the dining halls this week, simply write down your BUID number and name on the form. Two meals will be deducted from your meal plan on November 10th. Most likely, you will not consume all the meals in your dining plan: Give away two meals to help the hungry.

Speaking of hunger….

Two weekends ago, fifty BU Students participated in Hike for Hunger to support Heifer International. Heifer was so impressed with BU’s concept of the event and tweets along the way, BU was asked to write a blog post based on our experience:

At 8a.m. on Saturday, October 15^th, a group of 50 walkers paraded from Boston University’s George Sherman Student Union down Commonwealth Avenue, stirring the sleepy silence on campus. The pack wasn’t traveling into Boston for a weekend brunch, but rather in the opposite direction- towards Worcester, MA.

BU’s Hike for Hunger is a fundraiser for Heifer International held by the Hunger Affects Virtually Everyone (H.A.V.E.) organization, sponsored by the Community Service Center and Student Activities Office. Volunteers walk about 27 miles over two days, from BU to the Heifer International Overlook Farm in Rutland, MA.  Organized in the mid-1990s, the Hike for Hunger annually draws around 20 volunteers and collects between $500-$1,000. (Volunteers are responsible for raising at least $20 before the hike.) Led by BU juniors Alison Weltman, Bethany Reynolds, and Bridget Burgoyne, 47 students fundraised over $1,200 this year.

On Saturday, the group walked from BU to Brighton, traveled west through Waltham and Weston (stopping at the Weston High School Pumpkin Festival for some cider), and ended the 18-mile day in Framingham. Vans then took the hikers to a nearby YMCA in Hopkinton for a family-style spaghetti dinner and much-needed rest. On Sunday, they walked the remaining eight miles around the Sudbury Reservoir in Southborough and were transported to Rutland for a tour of the Heifer Overlook Farm. There, hikers learned about the Heifer International initiative, experienced the Global Village and were introduced to livestock on the farm.

Overall, the 2011 Hike for Hunger was a great success- attracting an enthusiastic and diverse group of volunteers, providing a break from the busy city, and increasing the use of social media. To revisit hikers’ thoughts and impressions of the Hike, check out

@BUCSC #Hike4Hunger. And be on the look out for Hike fundraisers later this semester and in Spring 2012!

Last but not least, Our Volunteer of the Week is:

Jasmine Moezzi

Jasmine, a volunteer with MAPP in the CELOP Program, is a first-year CSC volunteer who has taken charge with her CELOP partner volunteers. She created a facebook group that allows everyone a chance to keep in contact and post experiences with their international partners. Her enthusiasm is so great, considering that is a more individualized site for the volunteers.

Congrats to Jasmine and all other CSC volunteers who have made us proud this week!

A couple blog posts back we featured Ernesto Botello, a Student Food Rescue Program Manager, who created a Be Bold Be Bald Community Service Center team. Both Ernesto & our very own Assistant Director Orpheo Speer promised if we reached our fundraising goal of $1,500 to go towards cancer research, they would both shave their heads.

Well, not only did we raise our fundraising goal, we beat it! So…

Yesterday, in front of GSU Plaza, both CSC Assistant Director Orpheo & Student Food Rescue Program Manager Ernesto Botello got their heads shaved by Rino, from University Barber Shop. We want to thank University Barber Shop so much for their support in providing Orpheo & Ernesto with their new looks for free to help a good cause. (Like them on Facebook! They are awesome!) Check out a few of these photos for those who missed it. Videos & more photos will be posted soon.

Ernesto Botello (right) and Orpheo Speer (left) pose for a before picture. Rino, behind them, prepares to give them a new look…Dean Elmore style.

And let the shaving begin….

Lookin’ good Orpheo!

Ernesto’s turn…

Rino, Orpheo & Ernesto posing their new looks!

You’ve probably trick or treated before, but have you ever Trick or Canned?

Trick or Can is an annual event where BU students gather dressed in Halloween costumes and go to neighborhoods (who have been told ahead of time crazy college students in costume will be coming) around Brookline and Boston asking for cans!

The cans will be donated to the CSC’s Can Drive. This event is a lot of fun! Costumes are required and it’s a great excuse to go trick or treating.

So mark your calendars for October 27th at 4:45pm at Marsh Plaza. We will return by 8pm.

Sign up for this event by Friday to jump in on the fun!

And our volunteer of the week is….

Dan Petersen

Kristely Bastien, Project Hope Program Manager had this to say about Dan:

“Dan is a great volunteer and peer leader. He came to our Joining Hands orientation meeting and was so enthusiastic and engaged. He has such great energy about him that he get’s everyone else excited. Dan sends out emails regularly to his group of volunteers and they’re informative and upbeat. He stays on top of things and is unbelievably reliable. I know my volunteers are going to do great and have fun on site with Dan as their fearless peer leader!!”

Thank you Dan & everyone else who has made us proud this week!

Here at the CSC, we have so many great volunteers doing service everyday, making the Boston area– and ultimately the world– a better place. We want to honor two volunteers of the week, who have shined in a sky full of awesome volunteer stars, especially bright.

Volunteers of the Week

Monica Tanouye came into the CSC office more than eager to be a volunteer in more than one program. Currently, she is volunteering back to back on Wednesdays, racking in some serious volunteering time. Monica is super helpful, friendly, cooperative, and willing to give any site her best. Monica is sure to be a very positive influence and we know she will be an awesome volunteer all year long!

Alexander de Groot, selected to be a Peer Leader in Afterschool as a freshman, took initiative this week by emailing all of his volunteers and letting them know he was available to them. He went above and beyond by setting up attendance plan for them and made sure all his volunteers had a smooth transition into site this week. Alexander is super approachable and has already shown he definitely cares about his leadership position.

Thank you Monica and Alex and EVERYONE else who has made us proud this week!

Happy October! Program Managers in the CSC have been super busy jumpstarting their programs, keeping in contact with sites & making sure their volunteers are prepared to go to site.

This month, two of the Program Mangers in the CSC are making an even bigger difference outside of their programs.

Ernesto Botello, one of the Student Food Rescue Program Mangers, has organized a Be Bold, Be Bald Team for the Community Service Center. On October 21st, Ernesto & the rest of the BUCSC team will be wearing bald caps all day as a tribute to the courage cancer victims through the world & to raise awareness about cancer. In doing so, Ernesto hope to raise lots of money to fight the disease. His personal goal is $1,000 and hopes for the Community Service Center team to raise $3,500.

The coolest part? If we reach this goal, Ernesto (as he has done in past years) AND Orpheo Speer, Assistant Director of the CSC, have agreed to shave their heads skin bald.

All registered participants receive access to a variety of online fund-raising tools, a bald cap, a t-shirt, posters, wrist band, and including a personal fund-raising page. Join the Community Service Center’s team & show your support by wearing a cap or donate to Ernesto’s personal donation page.

Liza Gosselin, one of the Siblings Program Managers, is running the Cape Cod Marathon October 30, 2011 to raise money for the Massachusetts Eating Disorders Association (MEDA), a non-profit organization who spreads awareness of eating disorders and provides support groups for those struggling in the community. Liza, who has personally struggled with an eating disorder, calls this run “Liza’s Run for Self Love.” Help support Liza by making a donation, buying a t-shirt or sending her words of encouragement!

Our hats go off not only to Ernesto & Liza– but to you as volunteers! Best of luck as you begin your sites in the next two weeks! We are excited to begin an exciting year of volunteering & making a difference in the community.