Eagle Volunteer Corps takes flight

A new volunteer organization named the Eagle Volunteer Corps (EVC) is beginning its first year on campus. It is sponsored by the Volunteer and Service Learning Center (VSLC).

The group has a database of volunteers and service opportunities accessible through its Web site to connect its members to local community service. While it is challenging to run the office with only two full-time staff members, Dan Ponsetto, director of the VSLC, said the group is committed to "creating a community within the BC community with the goal of service."

Ponsetto said the EVC has two jobs: to maintain its database of volunteers and communicate to them any service opportunities in the area. Last year, the VSLC had volunteers, but found it hard to communicate when help was necessary.

Thus, the database and EVC have been created, giving Ponsetto and the volunteer organizations associated with the group "a giant pool ... to go out and do wonderful work," he said.

Ponsetto likened this year to a quote from the movie Field of Dreams. He said, "If you build it, they will come," and that is his attitude toward the database and the EVC in general.

"The purpose of the Eagle Volunteer Corps is to encourage students, faculty, and staff to be involved throughout the school year with various volunteer opportunities," Ponsetto said.

The EVC works to connect its members with all volunteering demands within the Boston College community and Boston's outlying areas. Ponsetto said students, faculty, and staff can tap into opportunities with hospitals, churches, disenfranchised members of society, abuse victims, tutoring, cleaning parks, and many more that "represent the mission of BC."

EVC is still evolving, but its goal is to refer people to organizations already on campus, then work toward outside organizations and established events in the area. Many students come into the office looking for information on volunteering and are then sent to various campus organizations for their interests, or they log on to the database. The goal for the EVC is to get all service organizations on campus on the same page.Currently, the EVC is a group of more than 800 students, mostly freshmen who signed up during freshman Orientation sessions, but it is in the process of recruiting upperclassmen members.

Christian Cho, CSOM '07, has been working part-time in the VSLC since the summer. He said he has seen a great influx of people over the past weeks as word has gotten out about the EVC.

"People are beginning to come to us because we have information on everything," Cho said.

This past Monday, the VLSC and the UGBC hosted the Volunteer Service Fair. The EVC capitalized on this opportunity to recruit upperclassmen and spread the word about their purpose of "facilitating people getting involved on campus," said Ponsetto.

In the future, the EVC is looking to expand. Ponsetto said the group is considering a speaking series in the future; they are currently co-sponsoring the October lecture by Fr. Fernando Cardinale.Ponsetto said that while the EVC's main goal is volunteerism, it has another job, too: to promote the development of people while keeping with the BC mission of building "men and women for others."

The VSLC also has numerous resources, like books, manuals, DVDs, and other social justice mediums, for volunteer organizations to utilize.