Carolina Service Council

Today, the spotlight's on the Carolina Service Council, based at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC.

The CSC is a student-run organization that organizes the many positive community service drives in the Columbia community. Rather than having a bunch of different stand-alone service drives, the CSC provides a common forum for them to plan and publicize their mission and goals.

Here are some of the areas that the CSC is working on (click on the links for more information):

-MLK Day of Service: On the third Monday every January, Americans across the country celebrate the national holiday honoring the life and work of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr in a day of community service, interracial cooperation, and youth anti-violence initiatives.
-Service Saturdays: Once a month, the Service Saturday Program provides up to 200 Carolina students with the opportunity to spend a half day of service in the Columbia community. (In 2006-2007, they had over 1,360 participants who donated an estimated 6,800 hours of volunteer service.)
-Day for Dillon: An eye opening trip to one of the poorest counties in the United States. Dillon, SC, made infamous by the documentary The Corridor of Shame and highlighted by the TV program 60 Minutes, is a rural county in the northeastern part of South Carolina. On one special Saturday in the spring semester Community Service Programs takes a group of students to help create change, where the change is needed most.
-Alternative Breaks: Each service trip is a unique opportunity to create a positive change, meet new friends and make lasting memories.
-America Reads/Hope Worldwide: America Reads and Hope Worldwide are both tutoring opportunities that can be done as a volunteer position or a paid position if you have a work study award.
-Non-Profit Protege Program: Participants will have the opportunity to walk in the shoes of an administrator/CEO of a Columbia area non-profit. Participants will have opportunities to attend board meetings; experience staff and committee meetings; visit with potential financial donors; and witness the action packed world of being a non-profit leader.
-BIG man little MAN: Male college students to work with local youth in the Boys and Girls Club of the Midlands, the Boy Scouts of America (Indian Rivers Council) Columbia Inner City Scouting Program, and the Big Brother Big Sister Program of Greater Columbia.
-Carolina Cares: A university-wide holiday drive that sponsors drives such as Stocking Stuffers, Adopt-A-Family, and the USC Tree Lighting Ceremony.

CSC also provides resources for community service organizations to access necessary documents, advertise around the area, and contact like-minded not-for-profit agencies across the country.

Serving as the hub for nearly every kind of social drive in the Columbia area, the Carolina Service Council and University of South Carolina embody some of the best community and student leadership in the United States. If you like what they do, have questions, or have ideas on how your two schools could work together, contact them at csc@gwm.sc.edu.

We want to hear from you! Tell us how you are related to the Carolina Service Council at your own school. How can we, as a nation, adopt the principles and actions set forth by the CSC? E-mail us or comment!