By MARTY LEVINE
Volunteering in service to a community group, Gabrielle DeMarchi said during Staff Council’s latest Spotlight session on Sept. 21, “is a meaningful way we can make a difference … but it is also a meaningful way we can connect with our colleagues,” especially for those who still work remotely.
DeMarchi, assistant director of community affairs in the Office of Engagement and Community Affairs, laid out the variety of ways in which Pitt staff members can offer their time for hands-on projects that help the community “right outside the front door of the campus” as well as throughout the region.
She noted that volunteering among Pitt employees peaked in the 2020 academic year, with about 700 volunteers contributing 2,865 hours, but has been rising to similar levels recently, topping 800 volunteers in the most recent academic year giving 2,253 hours to such opportunities as food pantry distribution; youth tutoring and mentorship; community garden clean-ups; trash clean-ups; veterans supportive services; and event registrations and assistance.
“We’re in Oakland and we have a lot of great partners” in the neighborhood, she noted, but opportunities stretch everywhere from the South Side to Munhall and Natrona Heights.
Current partners with her office include the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank: Islamic Center of Pittsburgh; Brother’s Brother Foundation; Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh; Amachi Pittsburgh; Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy; Community Human Services; and Family House.
Perhaps the easiest way to begin volunteering is to take part in one of Pitt’s annual “Signature Days of Service” by registering through volunteer.pitt.edu.
They include Civic Action Week, this year from Oct. 16 to 21(Pi.tt/civicaction), which encompasses Pitt Make a Difference Day, workshops highlighting civic action and the United Way Campaign kickoff; Christmas Day at Pitt; Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service (Jan. 15, 2024); and Be a Good Neighbor Day at the end of March or the beginning of April.
DeMarchi said her office hopes to reinstate the annual Volunteer Fair next September, which brought booths from many volunteer groups to the William Pitt Union.
In the meantime, those who wish to get involved with volunteering can email DeMarchi (gabrielle.demarchi@pitt.edu) “to get matched with an appropriate opportunity”; sign up for the twice-monthly Pitt in Action newsletter for news about specific volunteer opportunities (community.pitt.edu/newsletter); or visit the volunteer portal for a guide to more than 800 Pitt community partners and their specific needs.
She reminded attendees that Pitt staff members are eligible to receive paid time off each month (with supervisor approval, she cautioned) to participate in community service or volunteer activities — up to 7.5 hours during regular working hours per month for full-time regular staff members and pro-rated hours for part-time regular staff members.
Marty Levine is a staff writer for the University Times. Reach him at martyl@pitt.edu or 412-758-4859.
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