City Year Servathon Draws Harvard Volunteers

More than 50 Harvard students volunteered for City Year's 11th annual Servathon, a service day which drew about 5,000 volunteers from the Boston area on Saturday.

Volunteers worked on nearly 200 service projects, ranging from painting buildings to tearing down sheds. For each hour of time they donated, from 9 a.m. until the late afternoon, they collected pledges.

"The best part was meeting up at the beginning of the day and sharing the whole groggy, up-at-8-in-the-morning experience," said Stephen N. Smith '02, Boston Area Students in the Community (BASIC) coordinator. "It was great seeing everyone come out and help."

City Year, the national public service branch of AmeriCorps founded by two Harvard alums, has held the event since its beginnings in 1988.

From Harvard, BASIC, Harvard Students for Bradley, the Community Action Committee of the Institute of Politics (IOP) and the Seneca sent out volunteer teams.

Thirty members of the Seneca, a new women's organization on campus, renovated apartment complexes in the Charleston Housing Authority, while the IOP team worked on cleaning up daycare centers.

"Our goal is to bridge the gap between community service and public policy," said Rebecca C. Hardiman '01, the IOP's Community Action Committee Chair. "We try to get people out to see the political situation in Boston and the opportunities for community service that exist."

The BASIC team, which has volunteered with City Year in the past, renovated daycare center playgrounds this year and raised about $750, according to Smith.

"[City Year volunteers] do a lot of service out here and so do we," Smith said, "so our paths cross every now and then."