Oregon State University
EN-12: Community Service

There are several OSU employee community service initiatives that include both direct and indirect service. These include an Annual Employee & Family Service Day that engages volunteers in direct service addressing food insecurity at a local community garden and food share. Additionally, faculty and staff are invited and participate in varying degrees in all of the Center for Civic Engagement annual days of service (Make A Difference Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, Earth Day of Service, and Day of Caring with United Way). A large number of employees put on fundraising events and donate food and money to the annual food drive that takes place annually during the month of February: http://oregonstate.edu/ua/events/food-drive. The 2013 food drive contributed over 513,096 pounds of food to the Linn Benton Food Share. Each year thousands of OSU employees participate in the Oregon State Employee’s Charitable Fund: http://www.oregon.gov/GCFS/pages/index.aspx. Several departments including the Dean of Student Life alignment and Business Affairs have instituted a policy that all employees are allowed to use 8 hours of paid time per year to support community service projects. Additionally, more than two million Oregonians participated in Extension programs or contacted Extension for information, and more than 110,000 school-aged children engaged in 4-H activities statewide. Program areas receiving emphasis included healthy living, civic engagement and science. Over 14,000 volunteers contributed service to the state. This collaboration with volunteers resulted in a significant public good, a contribution of over 1 million hours of service, the equivalent of about 567 FTE.