IU students making a difference: ACE volunteers share their stories
NOTE: These stories are part of a Live at IU series on student volunteers -- those IU students who are taking time out from their busy schedules to improve other people's lives. The students featured come from a range of backgrounds and majors, but they have one thing in common: the desire to make a positive impact on the world. The following profiles focus on three of IU's 25 Advocate for Community Engagement (ACE) volunteers: Gaby Cheikh, a junior studying photography and art history (for Fair Trade Bloomington's new Global Gifts store); Vince Stange, a senior in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs (for the Office of Service Learning); and Jennifer Jameson, a senior in folklore and ethnomusicology (for Mother Hubbard's Cupboard).
Raising global consciousness
Gaby Cheikh began working as a volunteer at an age when most kids are more interested in climbing trees or watching TV.
In 1997 -- at just 9 years old -- Cheikh was appointed to the original board of the Timmy Foundation. A nonprofit organization based in Indianapolis, The Timmy Foundation sends groups of volunteers to Third World countries every other month to open hospitals, provide medical aid and supplies and help promote healthful living.
Over the years, Cheikh has helped the group to organize fundraisers and donation drives and traveled overseas to Ecuador and the Dominican Republic. She now serves as president of the foundation's Indiana University chapter of The Timmy Foundation and will this year travel to Guatemala on behalf of the organization.
As she enters her junior year at IU, the photography and art history major has also taken on a new volunteer role: she is the Advocate for Community Engagement (ACE) for Fair Trade Bloomington's Global Gifts store.
ACE is a program of the IU Office of Service-Learning that pairs student volunteers with local organizations in leadership roles, coordinating and scheduling other student volunteers. This year's 25 ACE volunteers work at a range of projects including Big Brothers Big Sisters, Girls Inc., Monroe County Public Library and Shalom Community Center.
The Bloomington Global Gifts store opened Aug. 25 at 122 N. Walnut St. after years of planning by Mary Embry, a lecturer from IU's Department of Apparel Merchandising, a partnership with Fair Trade Bloomington and lots of assistance from the two Global Gifts stores in Indianapolis and the IU chapter of Students in Free Enterprise.
Volunteers helped build the store, which once housed Natural Elements, adding electrical wiring, painting and even constructing the sales counter. In addition to selling items from 35 different countries (including greeting cards, bags, scarves, platters, vases, toys and wall hangings), the store will offer events to explain the fair trade philosophy. In mid-October, the store hosted an artisan from Kenya, who demonstrated her artistic techniques and discussed how she has benefitted from fair trade practices.
Essentially, the Global Gifts mission statement is to:
- provide vital, fair income and employment for people of limited opportunity;
- market ethically produced and ethically obtained handmade products;
- educate the public about the cultures and traditions associated with the items sold; and
- help consumers spend their shopping dollars in ways that benefit impoverished people around the world.
Cheikh, who previously volunteered for one of the two Global Gifts stores in Indianapolis, looks forward to the challenge of supervising student volunteers for the store. "As the weeks go on, I am mostly working on trying to get us paired with student groups," she said.
"The people involved are amazing individuals who I am honored to work with, and I cannot wait to share that experience with more students," she said. "To be able to work with such wonderful people on an initiative as incredible and far reaching as fair trade is an invaluable experience."
Finding fulfillment through volunteerism
Growing up in a small, middle-class town in Southeast Indiana, IU senior Vince Stange wasn't often exposed to people living in poverty. Still, Stange's altruistic parents instilled a sense of compassion in him early on.
His mother, a special education teacher, made sure that people with special needs were part of his life, often inviting disabled preschoolers to their house on weekends when he was a child.
"Whether people are disabled or not, they are just like us in almost every way," Stange said. "My parents have shown me what it's like to help others, and I want to be like that for someone else."
Stange has been an active volunteer since his freshman year at IU, tutoring high school students through Young Life, a Christian-based outreach program at Bloomington South High School; volunteering at Girls Inc. of Monroe County; and this past summer, working at Stone Belt, a local organization that provides independent living services for people with developmental disabilities and their families.
The nonprofit management student in School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) now devotes 10 to 15 hours of work each week as an Advocate for Community Engagement (ACE) for Monroe County United Ministries (MCUM).
As an ACE volunteer, Stange mentors other student volunteers by providing orientations and helping them evaluate what they have learned and how they have benefited from their experiences. The program enables him to reach out to MCUM clientele, and also involves other students who are engaged in service-learning.
"It helps me realize that this town is not just about IU and college students. It gives me a chance to see the real struggles of community members in Bloomington, just like any other town," Stange said. "It allows us students to play a part in the great service that Monroe County United Ministries provides to the community and to reach out beyond the confines of the campus."
After completing a non-profit management degree in May 2010, Stange is eyeing an internship in Czech Republic. He sees himself one day joining the Peace Corps, Teach for America, Young Life at one of its overseas branches, or a humanitarian organization overseas.
"The ACE program has really opened my eyes to the possibility of working in a nonprofit or social services center," Stange said. "I have been amazed to see just how much good one organization can do with such a small amount of staff, limited financial resources and a volunteer base that is made up partly of students. It has definitely inspired me to someday work for an organization that has such a far-reaching and substantial community outreach."
Looking past the campus 'bubble'
As a folklore and ethnomusicology major with a minor in leadership, ethics and social action, IU senior Jennifer Jameson was well aware of the importance of nonprofits and the communities they serve.
A service-learning class during the first semester of her junior year, "Beyond the Sample Gates" (L105), reminded her of the value of direct service.
The course required Jameson to volunteer for 20 hours at Mother Hubbard's Cupboard (MHC), where she helped to stock shelves with food supplies, check in patrons and provide them with bags for their shopping. She also worked in the community gardens, watering plants and seedlings and harvesting tomatoes and vegetables.
"When we're in school, the campus is like a big bubble," she said. "It's important to get involved with the community outside school, and to form relationships with people in our community."
This year, Jameson is an Advocate for Community Engagement (ACE) volunteer for Hoosier Hills Food Bank. In that role, she helps recruit students from a community nutrient program at the IU School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation. She is also working with a business marketing class to encourage IU's residence halls, fraternities and sororities to participate in the the food bank's Meal Share program, through which prepared but un-served food can be repackaged and made available to needy families and individuals.
Jameson said she feels privileged to be able to serve students who are inspired by volunteer work and to help IU faculty members and nonprofit agencies to create mutually beneficial partnerships.
Knowing how fortunate she has been in her life only serves to remind her how important it is to help others, Jameson said, adding that her volunteerism is inspired by her faith in God.
When she completes her studies, Jameson may pursue graduate school, and has plans to work for a state arts agency or a humanitarian council. "Being involved with poverty and hunger issues is a conviction of mine," she said. "It's important for me to be involved with community and social change."
For more information on the IU Office of Service-Learning, see http://www.indiana.edu/~copsl/.
This story first appeared in Live at IU Nov. 5, 2009.
