Days of Service

The Office of Community Engagement welcomes participation of students, community members, faculty, and staff in all of these annual community engagement events. You can participate by volunteering to be on the planning committee, offering to act as a group leader (helping to organize pre-service training and reflection activities), or attending/participating in the event. Please contact us for more information on how to get involved!

Summer

Gateway and Stellar Day of Service

Students in our Gateway and Stellar projects spend a week planning and implementing service projects in August.

Fall Semester

Fall Semester Day of Service

Each year, the Office of Community Engagement hosts a Day of Service in September. The goal of the event is to introduce students to volunteer opportunities and agencies in the community and to provide needed services for those agencies. The day includes pre-service training, a hands-on service opportunity, reflection, and snacks.

Past projects have included painting the floor of the Morris Theatre, cleaning trash and weeding the pocket garden in downtown Morris, river clean up along the Pomme De Terre river, and playing bingo at Grandview nursing home. There were approximately 60 individuals who participated in the projects.

Trick or Can

Each Halloween, the Office of Community Engagement sponsors an event designed to raise money and food/toiletries for the Stevens County Food Shelf.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Days of Service

Volunteers learn about and help preserve the local prairie habitat.

Spring Semester

Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service

  • Bridges barriers
  • Empowers individuals
  • Strengthens communities
  • Creates solutions to social problems
  • Moves us closer to Dr. King’s vision of a beloved community

In collaboration with the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Intercultural Programs, the Office of Residential Life, and Student Engagement & Events, the Office of Community Engagement provides a day of diversity training, programming, and service designed to honor Martin Luther King’s life and legacy.

What is the Marting Luther King, Jr. Day of service?

In 1994 Congress designated the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday as a national day of service. It is the only federal holiday observed as a national day of service—a “day on, not a day off.” Part of United We Serve, the MLK Day of Service calls for Americans from all walks of life to work together to provide solutions to the most pressing national problems.

MLK Day of Service at UMN Morris

The event was established as a university-community partnership in 2010.

Members of the Morris community gather at various locations to:

  • Participate in service projects
  • Listen to guest speakers
  • Eat together
  • Honor the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The program is supported by the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Intercultural Programs, Student Engagement & Events, the Office of Community Engagement, student organizations, and by local community partners.