UMF student club thrives on community service

FARMINGTON – As University of Maine at Farmington students enter their week of finals, one group on campus can look back on their fall semester as one of eye-opening experiences and accomplishment.

UMF’s Rotaract Club has tripled its membership this semester as more and more students are signing up to help build a house for the Habitat for Humanity program or collect toys for children admitted to Franklin Memorial Hospital or provide gifts through the Operation Santa Claus program at Western Maine Community Action.

“It’s really exciting to see the students’ enthusiasm for helping,” said Alison Terry, a UMF psychology assistant professor who serves as the club’s advisor.

Rotaract, an affiliate of the Rotary International, is a service club for young men and women ages 18 to 30 and can be either community or university based. Terry, got her Rotary Club start as a teenager when she was a member of the Interact Club, a high school affiliate with Rotary International. Through the club’s sponsorship, her attendance at a leadership conference and as an exchange student in high school were accomplished.

Now Terry is UMF’s Rotaract Club advisor, who is quick to credit this year’s new Rotaract officers at UMF with igniting the club’s activity and boosting new membership.

UMF’s Rotaract Club president, Amanda Reibel, got it all going when she posted on the school’s Web site that help was needed for a Habitat for Humanity housing construction project in Auburn. In no time, where there were once six club members became 20. Twenty students ready to help build a house even though they had never done anything like that before.

“None of us had ever worked in construction,” Reibel said. On the first trip this fall, the house was framed and work on the roof had begun when they arrived to help. After some instruction, the UMF students, working with Bates College students and community volunteers, learned on the job how to build a house from the ground up.

“We were given instruction and then it was up to us to problem solve it. It was a good experience. A lot of girls started by saying ‘I can’t do this’ but then found out they could,'” Reibel said. Experience included working the big power saw, roofing and siding the building.

The house is being constructed for a young family of seven who are currently living in a small, two-bedroom home. The house is expected to be completed in February, with UMF students returning after winter break to help with the finish work.

The experience not only taught construction skills, but has also connected the students to an underprivileged family in need of help.

“It was eye-opening for me,” Reibel said. “You don’t think about how bad things are for people.” The father of the family worked alongside the students and told them their help was “so great.”

“He told us people are showing them that they care and that they are a part of the community,” Reibel said.

Another club project, working to help out with Operation Santa Claus was an eye-opener too. The UMF club members set up a table everyday at lunch time at the cafeteria entrance and asked students and staff to help fulfill requests made through the Operation Santa Claus program. The club passed out tags that included a child’s or a senior’s age, gender and a toy, clothes or other item needed. Those choosing to participate, picked up a tag, went to purchase the item and brought it back to the club’s table for delivery to the North Pole, also known as WMCA’s office in East Wilton.

It was the nature of the tag requests, Reibel said, that really struck her. An elderly woman requested a bath towel. A teenager asked for blank CDs or computer paper. “They were all basic needs, things that are easy to get here. A 14-year-old who needs computer paper, that’s what got me.”

So far, the club has filled 57 of the 60 tag requests. “There was a huge turnout to help,” Reibel said. “It says a lot about UMF students, most of whom are on a limited budget, and the staff, too, who really helped out.”

If that weren’t enough, the club has collected toys to donate to Franklin Memorial Hospital for children who may need a little cheer during their stay and has put together small care packages that will be given to Sexual Assault Victims Emergency Services for those victims needing temporary shelter and a few personal items for the stay. The students also participated in the Rotary’s Festival of Trees event held on Chester Greenwood Day by decorating a tree that fetched $499. With those funds, the club has decided to sponsor a child in Guatemala through the Safe Passage program.

“It’s been exciting for me to see,” Terry said of the club’s community service help. Reibel said they will be having a brainstorm session soon to decide what they’ll be doing in the spring semester. “They can see the results and look with pride on what they’ve done,” Terry added.