AmeriCorps volunteers bring UGive to Columbus

Group connects high school volutneers with opportunities from local nonprofits

Like many recent college graduates, Amber Payne is broke. Broker than most even.

What sets her apart, though, is that for Payne it’s by choice.

Payne and two other recent grads are choosing to live below the poverty line for the next year volunteering as part of the AmeriCorps program.

Payne, Dawn Makiewicz and Will Durbin are working with UGIVE to connect Columbus-area high school students with volunteer opportunities from area nonprofits.

“It sucks at first. But when you realize you’re not doing it for the paycheck, but for the experience that will help me as a professional, a businesswoman, a mother, all the things I hope to be in the future,” Payne said.

“The experiences will propel you in the future. It’s not an easy transition. But I think it’s going to be worth it.”

The trio is laying the groundwork for UGIVE’s first efforts in Columbus. The group was founded two years ago in Cincinnati and has since worked with more than 10,000 students and 800 nonprofits.

Spurred on by its success, this summer UGIVE launched offices across the state. The Columbus volunteers moved into space at the ESC of Central Ohio’s Glenmont Avenue office.

“The ESC was happy to volunteer the space for a worthy cause,” said Bart Anderson, ESC superintendent.

“The UGIVE mission is one that clearly aligns with the work of our agency,” Anderson said.

“They are playing a similar role to the ESC in connecting different resources available in Central Ohio and offering new opportunities to students.”

Durbin stressed that the group’s goals aren’t solely based on immediate objectives.

“We’re really trying to motivate students to become lifelong givers,” he said.

Part of their approach to accomplishing that is to collect as many and as varied of volunteer opportunities as possible.

“Events that involve children, animals, something outside, or engage on different skills work well,” Durbin said.

“Typically nonprofits that want organizing files or stuffing envelopes don’t work as well, but we’re trying to collect all of them. We would like to populate the website with lots of opportunities so students can find the things that they’re passionate about.”

Already the group has received a lot of positive feedback from nonprofits. However, they’ve found it tougher to connect with schools. Makiewicz said that’s to be expected to some extent with a first-year project.

“We’re building a lot of the groundwork right now and hope the next volunteers will be able to do more,” she said.

Payne, Makiewicz and Durbin will be working at the ESC’s Glenmont Office with UGIVE until June 2011. Anyone who would like to find out more about getting involved with UGIVE or sharing volunteer opportunities can contact Amber Payne at 614.255.6968.