The TCU Volunteer Fair brought service agencies from across Fort Worth to inform students about service opportunities.
More than 60 agencies gathered on the Jarvis lawn from 3 to 5 p.m. Sept. 30 to show students the variety of volunteer opportunities in the Fort Worth community.
The Volunteer Fair is an opportunity for community agencies to recruit volunteers and for students to find service opportunities they are passionate about.
The TCU Office for Community Engagement has put on the event for over 10 years. This year, the event commemorated the 15th anniversary of the LEAPS Day of Service at TCU.
Director of community engagement at TCU Dr. Rosangela Boyd said the event makes it easy for students to find organizations to get involved in and “contribute to positive change.”
“The only way to ensure that you will be living in a society that you will feel good towards is to build that future,” Boyd said. “We can’t sit and hope things will get better.”
The Volunteers of America: Texas spokesperson Nathifa Nanyamka said that passion is the key to good community service.
“To be a good volunteer it has to be something you are interested in doing. Your heart has to be in it,” Nanyamka said. “There is strength in being able to go out there and work for a higher purpose other than yourself.”
Students Lea Sandoval and Ilse Espino echoed that notion by saying their volunteer experience has helped them find what they want to do and achieve in life.
Linda Engle from the Victory Therapy Center said that volunteer work could have a positive effect on students as well as the people in the community they are serving.
“They realize how blessed they are by being able to work with those less fortunate than themselves,” Engle said.
