Service Opportunities
Volunteering: Developing the knowledge, skills, and values for civic and career readiness!
The Office of Student Life, in partnership with student organizations across campus, provides opportunities for students to engage in their local communities. Through mutually beneficial volunteer projects, students are immersed in impactful direct service with members of the surrounding community.
Volunteering is a two way street, we are serving and learning simultaneously. Through volunteer projects not only are we able to address an immediate community need, but we are able to learn about important social issues, how they effect those around us, and how we can more deeply work toward long-term change.
Alternative Breaks
Applications close February 7th. Apply now!
Alternative Breaks engages students in capacity building, skill building, and identity development through community-based volunteer projects. Alternative Spring Break (ASB) is a week-long service-learning experience, which immerses students in service within communities locally and around the country.
This year we are offering both a distance and local trip, allowing students the choice of working with Cincinnati Homeless Coalition, in Cincinnati OH, or with Camp Restore, in Detroit, Michigan.
The trip will take place March 1st - March 7th for both groups.
Students in the local (Detroit) trip have the option to sleep at home or on campus in Detroit, while students in the distance (Cincinnati) trip must remain/sleep on site with the group for the duration of the trip.
Trip Cost is 100$, with need based scholarships available.
Cost covers transportation, dining, and housing for the week, and some activities.
Apply now!
Questions? Reach out to JaNai' James, [email protected].
Trip Topic: Homelessness & Gentrification
Activities include: Attend Town Hall Meetings, Help community sell StreetWise Newspapers, Hike to University of Cincinnati, Riverfront Tour
Learn more about the Cincinnati Urban Experience Program
University of Michigan-Dearborn students most recently participated in Alternative Breaks with this organization during Spring Break 2023. We are so excited to return!
Trip Topic: Neighborhood Restoration & Community Building
Activities include: Help Neighborhood Block Clubs, Work with children in AfterSchool Tutoring Programs, Roller Skating, Construction & Community Garden Clean ups, Downtown/Southwest Detroit Tour
Camp Restore helps address communities in Detroit in three main areas:
- Environmental (Community Gardens, Neighborhoods clean-ups)
- Human Care (Children's Tutoring Programs, Soup Kitchen, Food Pantries)
- Construction (Home Restoration, Boarding Abandoned Homes)
Learn more about the Camp Restore's work and initiatives
University of Michigan-Dearborn students most recently participated in Alternative Breaks with this organization during Spring Break 2024. We are so excited to return!
Questions? Stop by an Info Session!
Upcoming Alternative Break Info Sessions:
Virtual:
- January 29th, 5-6PM : Zoom Invite
- February 5th, 5-6PM : Zoom Invite
- February 6th, 5-6PM : Zoom Invite
None of these times work for you? Reach out to [email protected] with any questions or for more information!
More Ways to Get involved
Looking for ways to get involved? Our wonderful student staff put together a volunteer opportunities directory.
Know of an organization that’d be perfect to add to the list? Email [email protected] with the information listed on the directory.
**Please be aware that the information regarding each of these organizations was collected from their websites and can be subject to change.
1/20/2025: MLK Day of Service
- Help us celebrate during our Annual Day of Service! Look forward to opportunities On Campus, Off Campus at different organizations, or Remotely!
Find other featured service opportunities on the Engaged Scholars events page on VictorsLink.
Civic Action Week Fall 2024
Join us for Civic Action Week September 16th - 20th!
Join us during Civic Action Week, a week of programs and events taking place each semester designed to get all of us more civically engaged. Make an impact in our community this week through our service events, community discussions, and many other ways to make a difference. Bring friends, or come make new ones. Everyone is welcome!
Lunch & Learn: Food Pantry Volunteers & Food Insecurity Talk
10:30AM - 12:30PM, Lunch 12:30PM- 2PM
Dearborn Support Food Pantry - 2130 Renick University Center 
Join us as we kickoff Civic Action Week with a service project to benefit our on campus community!
Help us organize and sort an incoming donation for Dearborn Support, which houses our on campus food pantry, open to all students! Learn more about Dearborn Support, how the Food Pantry works!
Afterwards, all Volunteers will have lunch together (provided by us!) and a light discussion about our day and what food insecurity looks like on campus and in our local communities, and more ways we can all continue to help!
Join us for food, friends, and service!
All volunteers will receive a 2024-2025 Days of Service shirt & free lunch.
Service Make & Take: T-Shirts to Tote Bags
2:30PM - 4PM Renick University Center Patio 
Join us in the afternoon kickoff for Civic Action Week as we continue to do projects supporting our local community!
Help us in this sustainability effort to upcycle old t-shirts into reusable tote bags, that can be used for a variety of things, including grocery shopping! Join us this afternoon as we continue to support the Dearborn Support Food Pantry on our campus.
Help create shopping bags that students can use for their groceries! Make one for yourself to take home, and make more to donate to students using our food pantry to carry their groceries.
The bags we make will be donated to Dearborn Support on campus for students to use as grocery bags in our on campus Food Pantry!
The Dearborn Support Food Pantry is available for use by all students on our campus- no questions asked! Learn more about Dearborn Support and the other resources offered to students on our campus, including free Professional clothing in the Wolverine Wardrobe!
Make & Take: Make 2 Bags, Take one home!
ALL Volunteers will receive free lunch & a 2024-2025 Days of Service Shirt.
Volunteer & Service Fair
11:30AM- 2PM Renick University Center Patio
Stop by the Volunteer Fair to discover some new opportunities to get involved and make a difference in your community!
Visit every table and win free a University of Michigan- Dearborn gift!
We have organizations offering volunteer opportunities both on and off campus, so come find a way to get involved!
Some of our community focuses, and the organizations that will share volunteer opportunities:
Environmental Opportunities, with Brilliant Detroit, and Detroit Wildlife Rescue ON CAMPUS: Environmental Interpretive Center, Planet Blue Ambassadors
Youth Opportunities with To Girls, From Women ON CAMPUS: TRIO Programs
Social Services/Community Resources: Camp Restore Detroit, Pope Francis Center, St. Vincent and Sarah Fisher Center ON CAMPUS: Dearborn Support
Artistic Opportunities, including Padzieski Gallery, 826 Michigan
Senior/Older Adult Population Opportunities, including Brighton and Residential Hospice
Democratic Engagement Opportunities, including For Michigan.
& many more! Come get involved and meet all 15+ organizations for you to make an impact with!
National Voter Registration Day
Election Jeopardy
11:30AM - 2PM Renick University Center Stage
Happy National Voter Registration Day! Join the Turn Up Turn Out Team for a game of Election Jeopardy! We will play on the RUC Stage and test our election and democracy knowledge! Prizes to the winning teams and sweet treats for everyone involved!
Come play to win, watch for fun, or just check your voter registration status with our Turn Up Turn Out voting team. Join us later in the afternoon for a team Meet & Greet, and Game Night! See how you can get involved!
Bring friends to create a team or come alone and join a team of new friends when you arrive! Join the fun!
How Democratically Engaged Are You?
Donuts & Democracy
2:30PM - 4PM Mardigian Library 1211
Join us for Donuts & Democracy! Meet the Turn Up Turn Out Team and have fun with us at our game night! We have tons of new, fun democracy games (Which one of US will be elected president?) and feel free to bring your own to play as well!
Get to know our team and what we do, see how you can become involved! Bring friends and have fun! Everyone is welcome!
Join us for games, voter registration, and of course, DONUTS!
Coffee Chat with Student Government
12PM- 2PM Wolverine Commons, Renick University Center
Meet the current members of Student Government! Have ideas for what you would like to see on campus this year? Want to share any rooms for improvement? Interested to see how you can get involved, or what the student government has been working on over the summer?
Come meet us and lets talk about it! Share campus concerns, ideas, or just stop by to hang with us and say hi!
Join us in the Wolverine Commons, upstairs in the Renick University Center, for snacks, fun, and new connections!
Art & Activism
2:30-4PM Wolverine Commons, Renick University Center
Join Engaged Scholars and the Center for Social Justice & Inclusion for Art & Activism!
We will be making buttons, posters, and vision boards based on our ideas of community, our visions of the future, and inspirations from our pasts. Please join us and express yourself in what community means, and feels like to you!
Join us in the Wolverine Commons, on the 2nd Floor of the Renick University Center, for art, fun, snacks, and community building!
All Materials and Supplies provided, feel free to bring your own in addition!
Lunch & Learn: Project Sunshine
12PM - 2PM 1225 Renick University Center
Join us as we create and pack play-kits for children experiencing extended stays in hospital due to serious injury or illness. These kits will bring creativity and positivity to children and their siblings/families as they make their recovery. Completed kits will be shipped to hospitals around the United States.
Join us for this packing event and stay for a free lunch (volunteers only) as we discuss the impact that we make doing projects like these, and the power of doing service for others.
We'll provide all the food, fun, and supplies you need, so just bring your enthusiasm!
No experience or supplies necessary – everyone is welcome!
Pollinator Hotel Workshop
11:30AM - 1PM Environmental Interpretive Center
Join Engaged Scholars, the Planet Blue Ambassadors, and the Environmental Interpretive Center as we build Pollinator Hotels to help out the insects that spend time pollinating our gardens.
Learn more about our campus ecosystem and how you can help sustainability on campus!
Take one home, or donate to the EIC!
All Volunteers will receive lunch & a 2024-2025 Days of Service Shirt,
How Engaged are You?