There were garden tools o’ plenty this past Sunday when the Rowan Student Government Association (SGA) teamed up with the Office of Volunteerism to present students with an uncommon opportunity: the chance to help others. On Sunday, April 27, students from clubs and organizations (and some bravely flying solo) gathered in parking lot C to do chores for Glassboro homeowners who needed a helping hand.

According to 45-year-old Dr. Andrew Perrone, who oversees the office of volunteers and community engagement, SGA initiated the program about 13 years ago.

“Student government wanted to do an event to get out and do some community service directly [for] our Glassboro neighbors…student volunteers register to sign up…they go straight to Glassboro residents’ homes, and they help them with household projects, yard projects and things like that,” said Perrone.

While SGA and Perrone’s office may be working in tandem, this operation has many moving parts.

“We do work with a couple of community organizations like we were at a couple of churches and a child development center, but the vast majority of our projects…are residential homes,” said Perrone.

The groups’ assignments involve a mixed bag of tactics. Sometimes the student groups request a specific home that they worked on last year. Other assignments are based on preferences, such as what types of projects the students want to work on.

“Some of it [is] logistics, where a student group requests, ‘Hey, we don’t have a car, so can we get something that’s within walking distance of the parking lot?’ but otherwise…it’s pretty random,” said Perrone.

There is no shortage of chores for the volunteers. However, the overwhelming majority are outdoor tasks, which worked perfectly with the beautiful, albeit windy, weather.

“[There’s] a lot of raking, a lot of yard work…weeding…some window washing, we are painting a deck at one house…[and] cleaning gutters,” said Perrone.

Hope Campbell, a 20-year-old junior psychology major, is SGA’s assistant vice president of public relations and special events. She will serve as president next year.

“This is an annual event, [and] either 12 or 14 years ago…when SGA started the initiative, we sponsored with Andrew Perrone…his field [of] volunteerism, and…the two, they collaborate every single year,” said Campbell.

The two organizations join forces, but they have defined responsibilities that contribute to the whole.

“SGA takes more of the responsibility of getting the student signups, and [Perrone] handles the borough signups,” said Campbell.

As rewarding as volunteering is with its feel-good moments, one rarely discussed aspect of community volunteerism is the unknown: you’re going to a perfect stranger’s house and, in some cases, entering the home.

“Sometimes, when you think of it, it can be scary. ‘Oh, I have to go to this random person’s house,’ [but] Andrew, he does a good job…he gets the requests from the neighbors…then he goes there first, checks it out, sees about the neighbor and everything, so it’s nothing scary,” said Campbell.

For the hour and a half leading up to the service, the entire parking lot was abuzz with chit-chat and two DJs, 25-year-old Jordan Maurice Randall, a soon-to-be-graduating music industry major, and 23-year-old Andrew Bechara, a junior majoring in music industry business and technology.

“We’re just setting up for Back 2 the Boro, making sure they have some tunes so we can give back…for the community…[SGS] reached out to me, but at the same time, it is just because [we want to give back],” said Randall.

The students couldn’t stop talking about their personal reasons for volunteering, their motivations, and how they got involved.

“We heard about this opportunity through the women’s basketball team, and we’re just excited to be able to give back,” said 21-year-old Jess Mastriano, a junior in engineering entrepreneurship.

Several Greek organizations were also represented, including past and present members of Iota Phi Theta Inc.

27-year-old Marvin Valez and Joshua Sterling, both Rowan alumni, often support their Greek brothers in community service.

“Back 2 the Boro is something that we always do. We also do community services elsewhere…we just did one in Trenton. We…do this to give back to the community. It’s one of our pillars: we do brotherhood, community service, citizenship [and] fidelity,” said Valez.

While that may be the case for some, others have a deeper connection to the event and the community as a whole.

“The main reason [I] come back would be that Rowan actually gave me so much, in terms of…getting an education here, working my way up the ranks to…become an RA…and, of course, the ability to do everything that I’m doing now. There’s no reason not to give back…I’m a part of the organization, Iota Phi Theta Fraternity Inc.  So, any chance I have to give back to Rowan and, of course, Glassboro for allowing us to be here is always an opportunity I’ll take,” said Sterling.

Iota Phi Theta was not alone in its Greek-life altruism. Other Greek institutions were there for their chance to give back to the community that has welcomed them.

“Today, we’re just volunteering for my sorority, Zeta Phi Beta. We always love giving back, and we’re here for the service, so today, we’re going…to plant flower beds at a garden…I have not done this before; this is my first year,” said sophomore Alaijha Wilson, a 21-year-old journalism and political science major.

Rowan Athletics also had its fair share of representation. Swimming, basketball, and rugby all showed up for their respective clubs to support their community.  

“The Rowan women’s swim team does this every year as part of our service project. We try to do a service event every single month, so this is kind of the last hoorah before the semester ends and everyone goes home for the summer…it’s a great opportunity for the team to be together, it’s a great opportunity to give back to the community, and [it’s] just kind of like a community outreach outside the university itself and…it’s great to get out and help people in the Glassboro area,” said Molly Klinedinst, a 21-year old junior majoring studying English education.

Ultimately, the number of attendees wasn’t as impressive as in years past.

“It’s actually a lower number than last year, [when we had] a little over 700 student volunteers, and…the highest we ever had was 2019. We had over 1,000 students registered…it’s certainly the biggest volunteerism event that we have on campus,” said Perrone.

While only 428 volunteers showed up out of the over 500 who registered, that’s still 85 percent of the initial expected number. The groups covered over 120 locations within Glassboro.

The culmination of the event was a barbecue with standard cook-out fare and veggie burgers. The worn and weary volunteers all returned from their hours of work, dirty and disheveled, but beaming from the experience.

For comments/questions about this story DM us on Instagram @thewhitatrowan or email features@thewhitonline.com