NCSU students and locals will be coming together to give back to the Triangle area March 27.  

Brandee Woolard, a senior in electrical engineering and one of the three co-chairs of Service Raleigh, said Service Raleigh is a great way to give back and is entirely organized by students.

“[Service Raleigh] is an organization that matches volunteers to needed projects to the community,” Woolard said.

Meaghan Lynch, a junior is psychology and one of the two committee heads of public relations, described the event as being fun and rewarding. She said there is a lot of diversity among the people and the activities within Service Raleigh. 

“Anyone can participate, we had over 2000 volunteers last year,” she said. “We do a lot of different things, painting a building, putting down soil, planting flowers. You could really be doing anything.” 

Lynch said she thinks volunteering is a good experience for the community and for the individual, and everyone should try to participate.  

“I think it is a great way to give back to a place we all call home. It is helping the community out. It is an easy way to show your spirit and passion for the community,” Lynch said.

Woolard said even if Raleigh is not your home, it is where you go to school and it’s a good event to just have fun with people you know.

John Noble, a freshman in business, said he thought Service Raleigh sounded like a very beneficial project for the city.  

“I would sign up because I feel that people need to do more for the community and make Raleigh a better place,” Noble said. “I would like to pick up trash on Hillsborough because it is really dirty.”

Woolard said the deadline to register for Service Raleigh is this Friday, but anyone can still sign up and all will volunteers have a project to work on. 

“If you want to volunteer for the event go to the Web site, www.serviceraleigh.org. There are group, individual, and site liaison registration options,” she said. “Individual registration is for a single person who wants to volunteer. Group registration is for multiple people who want to volunteer together. Site Liaison is for someone who wants to be really involved with Service Raleigh. They actually lead the groups and are the keepers of the T-shirts and all of the event information. They also tell the group where to go.”

Lynch said her favorite part about participating is the diversity. 

“I think it’s exciting to see the different people come out,” she said.

Woolard said last her group worked to help clean up I-40. 

“We cleaned up the ramps. No one really cleans those all year. I am glad to be able to have done the project,” Woolard said. 

Woolard said if you cannot volunteer this year and are interested you can apply for a committee position next fall. The committee positions include but are not limited to: (co) Chair, Events Committee, Partners Committee, Public Relations, Resources Committee, Treasurer, Volunteers Committee and Web Committee. 

“Most of the time the people who apply get on the committee. You can pick what committee you apply for,” Woolard said. “It’s really great for people and a really great experience.”