Bradley SERVE helps the community and its volunteers 

If you have a free Saturday morning, consider sparing some time to SERVE your community. 

On Bradley’s campus, SERVE is an organization that brings students together once a month to volunteer in the community. SERVE provides breakfast, transportation and lunch to students who can choose between three to four volunteer sites. 

“The goal of SERVE is to provide students who may not have transportation or a lot of free time the chance to dedicate a few hours once a month to still get involved with organizations they are interested in right here in the Peoria area,” Natalia Pieloch, senior nursing major and sites coordinator for SERVE, said.

Shelby Byrd, SERVE president and a senior kinesiology and health science major, explained how many people and animals do not have the shelter they need in Peoria, and how SERVE works to help spread information about and fix the problem through volunteer work. 

“We also do special events. So we also host events where we try to prioritize mental health [and] poverty,” Byrd said. “We do a poverty simulation; we do Hearts of Hope. Our main focus is doing activities that are going to give back to the community.” 

While volunteering with SERVE helps Peoria, it also benefits the volunteers. Laura Nduka, a sophomore kinesiology and health science major, and Allison Higgins, a freshman art and psychology major, said that working with SERVE at the Peoria Humane Society was a rewarding experience. 

Nduka noted SERVE helped connect her with peers she wouldn’t have otherwise met. 

“It’s good to volunteer because you’re able to meet like-minded people who share common interests. I met my best friend at SERVE. I always mention that it’s like our love story,” Nduka said.  

Volunteering for one SERVE event does not mean students have to do another. There are other events hosted throughout the year besides Service on Saturdays (SOS). Signs are typically posted around campus advertising upcoming volunteer opportunities.

“We not only want volunteers, but we also need site leaders to be a point person at the different sites,” Pieloch said. “Site leaders can come to any Service on Saturday, if they are available, and help guide a group of volunteers throughout the 3 hours of volunteering.” 

“Just contact us. If there’s something you’re really interested in volunteering, we’ll try to make it for that next SOS,” Byrd said. “It’s not hard to go out in the community and just volunteer.” 

For those interested in getting involved with SERVE, there will be a Family Weekend service project 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Sept. 14 in the Markin Center. 

More information can be found on its Instagram and Involve pages. Students can sign up to volunteer through Braves Volunteer.