Oakton students, employees take part in day of service

More than 50 Oakton Community College students and employees volunteered to roll up their sleeves and put in a hard day's work for local service agencies during the college's annual day of service on Friday, Sept. 9.

Participants assisted nonprofit groups, including the Salvation Army, Youth Services of Glenview/Northbrook, Historic Methodist Campground of Des Plaines, Emily Oaks Nature Center of Skokie, Habitat for Humanity and Wings of Elk Grove Village.

Karen Roth, Oakton instructor and service learning coordinator, said the day of service helps plant seeds for participants.

"Once you become involved in any service experience, you're hooked," Roth said.

Volunteers performed a variety of tasks such as stocking shelves, pulling weeds and cleaning and organizing facilities. Participants also received tours of the organizations and were introduced to the important missions that nonprofits perform in the community.

A crew at Youth Services visited rooms where youth with special needs can receive counseling, tutoring and language and communications instruction in both structured and unstructured play.

For volunteer Diego Perez, coming back to the site was more of a matter of "paying it back" than "paying it forward." Perez, an Oakton student studying computers, was once one of the children that the organization helped.

"I will be forever grateful," Perez said. "The counselors helped me develop socialization skills, become a better communicator and advocate for myself."

Others from the group encountered Youth Services for the first time. For Anais Deac, a student in Oakton's early childhood education program, seeing the facility and learning how the counselors work with children reinforced her career path.

"Volunteering there inspired me and made me more confident about the major I have chosen," she said.

Youth Services Director of Development Carol Cheng was ecstatic for all the help Oakton provided.

"Volunteers and donors make everything we do possible," she said. "We were pleased to be able to share our mission with these enthusiastic Oakton volunteers and so grateful with the amount of work they accomplished. They made a big difference for us today."

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