Students often find themselves wishing they had time to do more, particularly when it comes to community engagement. Mystery Service Saturday, a program by NC State’s Leadership and Civic Engagement, works to involve more students in outreach.
Founded in 2017, Mystery Service Saturday is exactly what it sounds like: a Saturday in which students are providing service, only without knowing what organization or cause they will be helping before leaving campus. Despite its recent start and engagement only taking place once a month, the volunteer series has accumulated over 150 volunteer hours and counting.
“Mystery Service Saturday is one of the best illustrations of how Leadership and Civic Engagement provides opportunities for anyone on campus to make a difference in their communities,” said Jackie Lanning, a third-year studying biological sciences and Leadership and Civic Engagement’s Summer Service Program Coordinator. “From learning about a new community organization, seeing a different part of the Triangle, and meeting others who share their passion for service, Mystery Service Saturday has been a great way for students to get out of their comfort zone and find new connections in their community.”
Adrian Pavone, a third-year studying industrial engineering and the office’s Service Program Coordinator during the academic year, spoke about the creation of Mystery Service Saturday.
“One of the first projects that I was asked to plan was a trip to a local farm to go yam gleaning,” Pavone said. “Having never done, let alone ever heard of, yam gleaning, and still not even being entirely secure in what a yam was, I found myself feeling more excited for it. Not knowing what was really going to happen, but still being sure I would find it rewarding, was a wonderful feeling. After the event, I tried to rack my brain on a way to incorporate such a thing normally.”
The Service Program Coordinators choose a different volunteer site for each Saturday as a way of diversifying students’ interactions with the larger Raleigh and North Carolina community. Previous projects include cleaning parks with Activate Good, sorting donations for the Salvation Army and sustaining horse stables at Horses for Hope. The group’s most recent trip was to work with World Relief Durham, a refugee resettlement organization.
“Because of the new political administration, there has been a severe reduction in incoming refugees and the organization has had to downsize,” Lanning said. “World Relief helps refugee families set up new homes with furniture donations and other home items. Our team helped them move these donations to a smaller warehouse. Afterwards, we traveled to an international food market and had a scavenger hunt.”
Anshul Chaudhary, a second-year master’s student studying computer networking, spoke about his experience with Mystery Service Saturdays.
“I love meeting new people and connecting to them,” Chaudhary said. “As a foreigner, [MSS] is a great place where you can contribute as well as meet other folks.”
Lanning hopes that Mystery Service Saturdays continue to foster learning and new experiences.
“I see this as an opportunity to allow students to meet organizations already working on important social issues and gain a real-world perspective on how these issues can be addressed,” Lanning said. “There are so many community organizations and social justice issues that students don’t realize exist in our area and I hope MSS can make that first introduction.”
Get involved with Mystery Service Saturday here.
* Editor’s Note: This article originally misstated the name of Activate Good.
