Ginsberg Center E-Newsletter

Spring/Summer 2009

SERVE Alumni Return Home for 20th Anniversary Celebration
By Caroline Massad

SERVE alumni (from left) Jane Klaes and Jennifer Bastress Tahmasebi, members of the first group of students involved with the program. Like a number of SERVE alumni, the two are both still involved in service. Klaes is currently a general practitioner at a community clinic in West Virginia and the Medical Director for Vision Builders; Bastress Tahmasebi is Vice President for National Service and Program Investment for Youthbuild USA.

SERVE, the University's student-run community service and social justice program, celebrated its 20th anniversary in April by hosting a day of service for current and former participants.

Approximately 80 SERVE alumni attended, alongside SERVE staff and current student leaders and participants.

Ginsberg Center Student Initiatives Director Dave Waterhouse, who oversees the program, said the celebration provided an opportunity to show alumni how SERVE has evolved, learn what they are doing now and ask for their feedback.

"We were excited to hear that many alumni have stayed in public service, often doing things directly related to the work they did with SERVE," Waterhouse said.

An open house at the Ginsberg Center followed a morning service project with the Ypsilanti organization Growing Hope, which develops and provides resources to community gardens. Anita Bohn, SERVE's first director, said the reunion gave her the opportunity to reflect on the program’s growth since its founding.

"SERVE has grown so much thanks to the incredible commitment and hard work of hundreds of students who have led it throughout the years. From the development of its foundational programs to its focus on education and social justice, students have created and re-created SERVE as a model program on campus and nationally," she said.

In 1988, SERVE began with four student leaders whose mission was to refer volunteers to area organizations. The next year, the group expanded to 11 students and two additional programs: Alternative Spring Break and a campus-wide day of service.

Today, SERVE includes a range of initiatives through which students organize opportunities for peers to volunteer in Michigan and the surrounding area, across the U.S. or abroad, and to learn about social issues: Alternative Spring Break, Alternative Weekends, North American Summer Service Team, Pangea World Service Team, VIEW (Volunteers Involved Every Week), and ISSUES Education & Awareness. SERVE has also become part of the Ginsberg Center, which was established in 1996, and relocated from its original space in the Michigan Union to the Ginsberg Center’s office on Hill Street.

500 to 800 students participate in SERVE programs each year and each of its six programs is headed by 8 to 12 student leaders and supported by hundreds of student site leaders.

Several alumni discussed the impact that SERVE had on their lives. Aubrey Macfarlane, a former Alternative Spring Break (ASB) site leader and SERVE staff member who is now Vice President of Programs for Judson Center, a nonprofit human services agency that works with families and children in Southeast Michigan, said SERVE influenced the trajectory of her career.

"I had planned on becoming a veterinarian before participating in my first ASB," Macfarlane said. "However, ASB and SERVE ignited my passion for social justice. I realized that this had to become my life's work."

Learn more about SERVE.

Ginsberg Center E-Newsletter

SERVE Alumni Return Home for 20th Anniversary Celebration By Caroline Massad

Spring/Summer 2009 Table of Contents

SERVE Alumni Return Home for 20th Anniversary Celebration
By Caroline Massad