Serve-a-thon Boosts Community Service

BOSTON--Saturday's sunshine reflected the warm enthusiasm of 10,000 members of the Boston community who worked during City Year's 10th annual Serve-a-thon.

The event was a fundraiser for City Year, a Boston-based community service program that involves about 300 youths aged 17 to 24. In exchange for a weekly stipend and scholarship money, participants dedicate a year or more of their lives to community service projects.

The serve-a-thon's participants, including many college and high school students, worked on projects that included painting buildings, cleaning playgrounds and running carnivals for children.

"It's so exciting to see so many young people, especially from high schools, to involve themselves in Serve-a-thon," said Jimmy Allen, who has staffed the Serve-a-thon for four years.

Run from the Boston Common, the Serve-a-thon, sponsored by MFS Investment Management, gathers volunteers as a part of National Make a Difference Day. The event is designed to give participants an opportunity to impact the community through service, organizers said.

According to Deputy Director of the City Year Serve-a-thon Ted Marquis, this has been the most dynamic year in the history of the Serve-a-thon.

Volunteers represented 150 corporations, 200 high schools, colleges and alumni groups, 35 religious organizations and 76 local neighborhood groups, officials said.

The Serve-a-thon exceeded its goal of recruiting 10,000 participants, said Kristin Thalheimer, an event spokesperson.

The Serve-a-thon also featured a post-service celebration which included tunes from the bands ENTREAT and Low Down Connection, a book signing by Marianne Larned, author of Stone Soup for the World, a performance by the Honduran dance troupe Wamengui and the first Annual Serve-a-thon Service Fair.

Ongoing projects that involve City Year participants include programs in school that educate students on AIDS, domestic violence, and conflict resolution, tutor and mentor students and renovate dilapidated parks and buildings.