The dawgs behind Dawg Day of Service
On March 29, Serve UGA, a student organization aimed at promoting a culture of service via volunteer opportunities, hosted this semester’s Dawg Day of Service. Dawg Day of Service is the University of Georgia’s largest day of service, where students can serve and engage with nonprofits in Athens-Clarke County and neighboring counties working alongside local community organizations. There were 395 volunteers at Dawg Day of Service, a total of 1185 volunteer hours, and over twenty sites:
- Athens Area Humane Society
- Athens Community Council on Aging
- Athens Land Trust
- Athens-Clarke County Animal Services
- Barrow Elementary School
- Brightpaths
- Friends of Brooklyn Cemetery
- Howard B. Stroud Elementary School
- Johnnie Lay Burks Elementary School
- Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful
- Keep Oconee County Beautiful
- Project Safe Thrift Store
- SGA Professional Clothing Closet
- Sweet Olive Farm Animal Rescue
- The Cottage
- Trial Gardens at UGA
- UGA Student Food Pantry
- Vincent’s Place Sanctuary
- Wesley Woods of Athens
- Y.W.C.O
Alyssa Kaplan, a first-year master’s student studying college student affairs administration, served as the Graduate Practicum Student – a role that entails coordinating logistics and ensuring the smooth execution of the event.
“I was asking the students who’ve been involved previously a lot of questions, because there’s a lot that I can’t get from the documents and from the physical evidence,” Kaplan said. “Hearing from students is one of the most important ways to be able to actively support and continue to better the event.”
With twenty community partners for Dawg Day of Service, students were divided amongst more than twenty sites throughout Athens-Clarke County. The process by which organizers did this was different for the spring semester, where all students were able to sign up for individual sites on the involvement network to give students more agency in the process and give them a personal connection to the work being done.
“We really tried our best to touch on as many different areas of the community as possible,” Kaplan said. “Supporting animal shelters and animal services in the area, farms, doing gardening, trash pickup and organizing clothes for thrift store that support victims of domestic violence.”
Kaplan and the rest of the organizers for Dawg Day of Service strived to offer a variety of service opportunities to serve a central mission of incorporating reflection at the end of every service site.
“One of my favorite takeaways is to hear from students,” Kaplan said. “What I witness in a lot of students – especially the student leaders that I have a chance to engage with – is seeing themselves in the community they are a part of.”
Kaplan’s work in organizing Dawg Day of Service changed how she views service: from transactional to transformative.
“UGA approaches service in such a different lens, making it something that is intentional, and comprehensive, and meaningful.”
Dominique Lowe, a fourth-year health promotion major, served as the Executive Director of Serve UGA and shared this eye-opening and fulfilling experience of working behind the scenes to make Dawg Day of Service happen. One crucial aspect of planning is gathering feedback and redirecting the program from there.
“We get feedback from the community partners to see ‘how did it go that day at the site.’ ‘Was it helpful?’ ‘Did you need more people?’” Lowe said. “We also use a lot of feedback from our service ambassadors, who are there leading the site.”
The logistics in planning Dawg Day of Service involved weekly meetings, site preparations and coordinating day-of operations.
On the day itself, the executive team arrives at the Tate Student Center around 6:00 am, having a small meeting before setting up refreshments in the Tate Center Grand Hall for all the volunteers. Afterwards, logistics such as transportation to sites and speeches are finalized. By 10:00 am, volunteers are dismissed to their sites as the organizers hang back to upload attendance, clean up, and be a resource in case any transportation or operational challenges come up.
“One of our pillars is sustainable service,” Lowe said. “So, a lot of the sites that we normally partner within the semester are also Dawg Day of Service sites.”
Lowe further emphasized Dawg Day of Service’s impact not only on the community but on her personal reflection as well, citing Friends of Brooklyn Cemetery as a site that she has deep love and appreciation for. Friends of Brooklyn Cemetery is an organization dedicated to preserving one of Athens’ first historic African American burial grounds.
“I got to hear about the history behind the cemetery and why she [Linda Davis, community partner] is doing the work she does; to preserve and help beautify and, ultimately, give perpetual care to the cemetery to honor the people who are buried there,” Lowe said.
For Lowe, she explained why service is important to her.
“Service has always just been throughout my childhood – something that we always did,” Lowe said. “We would help with food drives, and we would receive the benefits of those food drives as well. They instilled how it takes a village to raise a child, and if we get from that village, we also have to give back to that village.”
Looking for shared purpose and community values, Lowe wanted to find ways to connect with and help the challenges that Athens is facing, with service becoming an opportunity to explore the needs of the UGA and Athens communities.
“Being more on the leadership sides as organizing it just shows how much effort is put into making these things happen. People don’t just show up on a Saturday morning to help with an event; there’s so much organization that goes behind everything,” Lowe said. “It’s so easy to get into that UGA bubble of ‘I’m just here for school and then I’m going to leave.’ But really, we wouldn’t be here without this community.”
Both Kaplan and Lowe highlighted Dawg Day of Service’s proficiency in providing quality service to the community and giving students a way to connect with not just their newfound home but also each other. Whether you need service requirements for your organization, fraternity or sorority, or you simply feel called to serve, Dawg Day of Service acts as a beacon for involvement and service within the Bulldog family.
Writer/Contact: Elijah King, 706-542-3564, askstudentaffairs@uga.edu
