On a given Saturday, students, staff, faculty, and community folk have the opportunity to pick one of 4-5 service projects at local charitable or non-profit agencies to volunteer for 2-3 hours. Free food is served. A VSB staff person supervises each service project. This is VSB's way of providing easily accessible volunteer opportunities to the university community with the help of charitable and non-profit agencies. Service Saturday is a great way for students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community folk to collectively give back to the community in a concentrated manner. It also allows the university community to serve as active citizens in their local communities. In addition to serving the community, volunteers also learn about community issues tied with the agency through reflective exercises facilitated by student Site Leaders. Our hope is that through a greater awareness of community issues, volunteers would not only continue to volunteer but also take action to confront these issues.
Some Service Saturdays have certain types of service projects connected to themes. For example:
- Hunger and Homelessness Issues Service Saturday is held close to National Hunger and Homelessness Week in mid-November. Service projects are held in non-profits that address poverty.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Service Saturday is held at the end of Boise State's Martin Luther King, Jr. Human Rights Celebration Week in mid-January. Service projects are held in non-profits that address Human Rights issues.
- Youth & Education Issues Service Saturday is held close to Youth & Education Issues Awareness Week. Service projects are held in non-profits that address youth and education issues.
- Women's Issues Service Saturday is held sometime in March to commemmorate Women's History Month. Service projects are held in non-profits that address women's issues.
