As a BU student, Jorge Baron was a leader who served others, in both student government and as a member of a minority students organization. Today, the South Africa resident lives nearly 8,000 miles from Comm Ave, but he recently reconnected with his alma mater by participating in BU’s Global Days of Service (GDS). On April 2, Baron (COM’99, CAS’99) organized volunteers who helped sell food and goods at an annual market, raising $1,362 to benefit the Cape Town nonprofit Pride Shelter Trust. The organization runs Africa’s only crisis shelter for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) community—a critical service given that homosexual activity is a crime in most African countries.

“Being a gay man and knowing the plight of LGBTI people in Africa, it is important for me to know that there is a safe place and home for people who are rejected by their communities or could be in danger because of their sexual orientation,” he says.

Baron is among the alums, students, faculty, and staff participating in the seventh annual service event, run by the BU Alumni Association and the BU Community Service Center.

Throughout April, volunteers can lead a project or join more than 70 independent and group projects organized by the University and members of the BU community—such as serving meals to the hungry in Boston, cleaning up a beach in Shanghai, and leading arts activities for disadvantaged children in Bangpoo, Thailand. They can also create solo service projects. Last year, 2,002 volunteers in 15 countries contributed nearly 7,000 hours.

“We realize that there are people all over the world who are already doing such great work in their communities, and we really want people to be able to connect with BU within their community, but also feel like they’re a part of this greater BU community globally,” says Melissa Stuart, Development & Alumni Relations associate director of alumni programs and events. Stuart is helping to coordinate GDS, and she will volunteer with colleagues at the Pine Street Inn, a Boston nonprofit that assists the homeless. “You can make a difference in just a few hours,” she says.

Or even 15 minutes. That’s how long it will take to give blood at the American Red Cross Blood Drive at the George Sherman Union on April 26, says James Howard (SED’11). Howard, the Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine associate director of finance, has organized the drive for the past four years. Growing up in Ohio, this doctor’s son learned that donating blood “could mean the difference between life and death for someone.”

Carol Leiter (CAS’77) (from left), Amber Sligar (CAS’08), and Anne Leiter (CFA’80) planted native conifers with the Vashon Maury Island Land Trust in Vashon, Wash., during the 2015 Global Days of Service. Photo courtesy of Anne Leiter (CFA’80)

Terriers can also make an impact from home. Digital GDS projects include transcribing historic documents for the Smithsonian and helping people who are blind with visual tasks—such as reading prescription labels or navigating unfamiliar places—via video chat on the iPhone app Be My Eyes.

For the first time since GDS began, BU is offering webinars where participants can learn from alums’ service experiences. For example, on April 14, humanitarian Matthew Trevithick (CGS’06, CAS’08), who was held in an Iran prison for more than a month before being released in January, will speak about his nonprofit work and his experience in Iran. In another GDS first, on April 21 alums interested in nonprofits, education, or health care can connect online with like-minded alums in a speed networking event, one in a monthly series.

Other events are a long-standing tradition. This is the fourth year SDM has fielded a team for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life at Boston University, an all-night fundraiser April 16 and 17 at the Track & Tennis Center. The team will walk in the relay, play games such as Frisbee, and provide literature on oral cancer.

“This event is such a great opportunity to come together alongside other dental students as a team to have an exciting night and support an amazing cause,” says Debbie Desravines (SDM’17), who helps coordinate SDM’s participation. She adds that hearing cancer survivors share their stories at the relay is inspiring.

Ashley Cunningham (CGS’15, SAR’17) is one of those survivors. She was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma at age 16—ironically, while helping to organize her first relay. This year, her fourth in remission, Cunningham will participate in the Survivors’ Lap around the track and the Survivors’ Dinner. “Relay is a reminder to all of us survivors that we did just that: we survived,” she says. “We need to remember those who did not and make a change so that no one will hear the words, ‘You have cancer,’ ever again.”

Volunteers can share their service stories on the Global Days of Service website. Students can also log their time with the Million Hours Project, which gives BU students the opportunity to contribute to 1.5 million hours of community service before the end of the University’s $1.5 billion fundraising campaign in 2019. Students have already logged 1,017,831 hours. Aubrey Fiacco (CAS’16), who is helping to coordinate the Relay for Life and is also volunteering with Ethos, a Massachusetts nonprofit that advocates for the elderly and disabled, has been logging her volunteer time with the Million Hours Project since freshman year.

Volunteers say GDS fosters a sense of BU unity and pride. Fiacco says she’s happy “to see that there are so many students who are so passionate about working in our community and trying to make a difference.”

“And the organizations that benefit appreciate BU’s help,” says Susan Richardson, director of alumni relations. “They pretty much know that they can count on us.”

Global Days of Service runs throughout April. Learn more, share your volunteer stories, and register here. 

Julie Butters can be reached at jbutters@bu.edu.