Media Credit: Photo Courtesy of Volunteer UWF! Back Row: Michael Motley, Jessica Legare, Joy Hendricks, Jonathan Cellon, Jill Gardner, Sarah Clark, Aerial Kirtley, Kim Stetser, Megan Lawson Front/Middle Row: Kenari Guest, Jessica Crawford, Brandi Wahl, Lisa Sharpe, Salie Abraham, Tyler Miller, Laure [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Photo Courtesy of Volunteer UWF! Aerial Kirtley and Sarah Clark volunteer their day to construct frames for Habitat for Humanity. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Photo Courtesy of Volunteer UWF! Jonathan Cellon hammers away at a frame. [Click to enlarge]

A laborious job of hammering shingles to a roof in the hot sun can turn into a time of laughs and team work. Giving an hour out of a busy schedule to spend with a terminally ill child could be a chore or the chance to grow and relate to people of different needs.

Volunteer UWF is located at Building 19 and provides University of West Florida students with opportunities to gain experience by performing volunteer work, independent field studies and work studies with local agencies such as Habitat for Humanity and the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

"Volunteer UWF is a center for all volunteer opportunities on the UWF campus," said Jonathan Cellon, Volunteer UWF's graduate assistant.

The organization recently selected 21 local organizations to serve as "community partners" for volunteer projects around the area.

A community partner must be a nonprofit, government, faith-based or a K-12 institution selected by students, faculty or staff and approved by Volunteer UWF.

The partner applications are accepted continually as the 21 partners were first accepted in late August and the rest being accepted and announced together last Wednesday.

The new partners are Across Ages Mentoring, American Diabetes Association, American Red Cross of Northwest Florida, Bayview Community Center, Boys and Girls Club of Escambia County, Crisis Line of Bridgeway, Covenant Hospice, Escambia County High School High Tech, Gulf Coast Kids House, Pensacola Habitat for Humanity, Hands on Pensacola, Hospice of the Emerald Coast, Humane Society of Pensacola, Junior Achievement of Northwest Florida, Make-A-Wish Foundation of Central and Northern Florida, Navy Marine Corps Relief Society, Pregnancy Resource Center of Milton, Rebuild Northwest Florida, Ronald McDonald House of Northwest Florida, United Way of Escambia County with First Call for Help and Village Hope of Pensacola Inc.

These partners are local agencies that work with the University of West Florida to fill needs while providing students with service experience, Volunteer UWF said.

"As a community partner, we can guarantee to the students that once they go to that agency, they will have quality orientations, training and supervision," Cellon said.

Two benefits of volunteering are the availability to gain real-world knowledge and developing a resume.

"You are going to some of the best organizations available, and with that comes expertise and experience," Cellon said.

Another reward is community pride.

"The benefit is you get involved in the UWF community," said Brandi Wahl, Alternative Spring Break president.

Wahl said she did not partake in many activities at the university until approached about participating in Alternative Spring Break, a group associated with Volunteer UWF.

"Once I joined Alternative Spring Break, I dived into the university," Wahl said. "I found that it's just a lot of fun, and you get to meet a lot of new people."

Last year, the organization had a total of 1,343 students get involved in volunteer activities, according to the group's service statistics.

Volunteer UWF's most recent project was a Habitat for Humanity build that took place Sept. 9 during Welcome Week and Beyond. Its next plans to offer disability mentoring with Escambia County High School High Tech Oct. 19, said Tiffany Killam Jurey, Volunteer UWF's program assistant.

To get involved, it takes little effort.

"It's as simple as coming up here and expressing your desire to volunteer," Cellon said.

The need for volunteers is constant.

"We always need volunteers," Jurey said. "We never have enough volunteers." Opportunities are available to any major of any class rank. All volunteer hours then are traced through Jason Quest.

"All one has to do is log into Jason Quest, an online database, through Argus and look at the volunteer opportunities available and sign up and contact the organization," Cellon said.

If a student works above 20 hours in one semester, his or her efforts will be automatically placed on the student's transcript.

"It's a good resume-building tool for jobs, graduate school, internships, things like that," Cellon said.

Wahl said she encourages students to get involved in the university because they get so much back.

She encourages students to get involved because in the business world, "they all look for things you do within your community and things you do inside your university."

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