Some 220 Hope College students will participate in service projects throughout the area through the college’s “Time to Serve” program on Saturday, Aug. 31.

Most of the students will be members of the freshman Class of 2023.  The students signed up shortly after their arrival at Hope, during New Student Orientation, for the mass volunteer effort.

The students will be working in groups of eight to 24 at 20 different sites from 9 a.m. to approximately noon. Projects are scheduled throughout the Holland and Zeeland area and will range from sorting at the Gateway Center, to farm work at Eighth Day Farm, to bundling diapers with Nestlings Diaper Bank, to painting at Nuestra Casa, to groundskeeping and cleaning at many organizations.

“Time to Serve,” which began in the fall of 2000, is designed to help new students learn about service while helping and getting to know their community and becoming better acquainted with one another.

Hope students volunteer in a variety of ways throughout the school year. In addition to “Time to Serve,” three prominent efforts at the college are “Hope Serves,” an annual January day of service led by Volunteer Services and the multicultural student organizations; the “Dance Marathon” charitable fund-raiser held on behalf of Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital of Grand Rapids; and the spring break service and immersion trip program, all of which involve students from across campus.  In January 2011, Hope was named to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s “2010 Community Engagement Classification” for demonstrating excellent community engagement locally and beyond, showing alignment among mission, culture, leadership, resources and practices.