Over 100 students came to Waltham Group Recruitment Night on Wednesday to learn about and sign up for community service opportunities.
Founded in 1966, Waltham Group is an umbrella community service organization that contains 18 different volunteer programs. The programs vary widely, ranging from volunteering with the elderly, working with kids at after-school programs, tutoring, visiting with special needs adults, organizing blood drives, Habitat for Humanity, and teaching English to non-English speaking adults in the Waltham community. The programs serve the Waltham community and the Greater Boston area, according to the Waltham Group’s website.
Waltham Group has revamped their recruitment process, hosting a Wake-and-Shake outside Usdan and, for the first time in several years, tabling at the Fall Activities Fair. This allowed students who weren’t able to attend the recruitment night to find out more about Waltham Group.
At Recruitment Night, each program set up a table in the SCC atrium. Coordinators for the programs staffed their table and informed interested students about the volunteering opportunities they offer. A Google form allowed interested students to sign up for the programs they wanted to participate in.
This year, seven of the groups tabled in the MPR of the SCC, moving some of the activity out of the atrium and to the second floor. None of the programs had to share tables due to space concerns. This allowed the recruitment night to run more smoothly, according to co-president Lee Wilson ’18.
“It was a really big success and we were happy with the way it turned out,” said Wilson.
Will Brummett, the newest member of the Department of Community Service, attended the event to promote his new initiative, the Rich/Collins Community Leadership and Impact Fellowship. Other members of the department went to the event to answer questions and help the Waltham Group recruit new members.
On Wednesday, coordinators and members posted photos with the hashtag #whywednesday, explaining why they joined the group, hoping to drum up more interest in Waltham Group programs.
