CAB pushing for 10,000 service hours

by: Krista Helling
Staff writer

Imagine volunteering 10,000 service hours. At first glance, it seems like quite a shock. While it might seem like a punishment to some, for others, it’s a true example of giving back to the community.

A new program on the SAU campus, known as 10K, is directly involved in 10,000 service hours.

“The organization is called the 10,000 Hour Show,” Molly Temming said. “It was started by a group in Iowa City in the spring of 2004. Ambrose is in its first year of taking part with the service hours. We are all really excited.”

Temming helped organize the club on Ambrose’s campus.

The organization is accessible to anyone through its website, www.10000hours.org. However, this is the first year that it is open to all of Iowa.

“Last year they had 1,684 volunteers, 138 organizations and 20,009 hours involved,” Jake Gorman said. “This year, we’re hoping to increase those numbers even more.”

10K, the Ambrose ground club, will start recruiting people to participate in service hours in the Davenport community beginning this semester. They hope to have tables in the cafeteria and residence halls. Also, they will hold a “Volunteer Fair” where Ambrose students will have the chance to meet with representatives from the organizations asking for volunteers.

“The organization asks that each person involved complete ten hours of community service,” Gorman said. “Each person that we recruit will have the chance to do 'service' hours or 'sampler' hours.”

“If they choose service hours, they will do all of their ten hours for the same organization. If they chose sampler hours, they will do their ten hours at a variety of different organizations,” Gorman said.

Gorman said they are currently working on getting organizations registered at Ambrose so students can begin community service hours.

“We’re in the process of getting the organizations registered for Ambrose participants right now,” Gorman said. “It’s hard because the program is so new and unfamiliar to people that organizations tend to be hesitant and uneasy to commit.”

However, the St. Ambrose Children’s Campus is already registered and creating a lot of opportunities for people who like working with children.

 The club is also hoping to get Habitat for Humanity involved, Gorman said.

The benefit of doing these service hours for the organization is unique. Those who complete the allotted ten hours of community service will be given a ticket to a concert in Des Moines in the spring.

They have not figured out accommodations and transportation for the concert, because the national committee is in the process of looking into it. When the national committee figures it out, then 10K will figure out how SAU will handle it.

 “The band for the concert hasn’t been decided yet, but it will hopefully be decided sometime in January,” Temming said. “It’s cool because just 10 hours of service gets you a free ticket to a concert.”

There are currently eleven people involved with the 10K ground team at SAU. However, as the word spreads and the program grows, they hope that involvement does as well.

“I got involved with 10K because a lot of my friends did…sort of like peer pressure, but in a good way,” Jay Swenson said. “I’m glad I got involved because volunteering is always fun.”

“I hope that we can get more students involved in volunteering, because it’s an easy way to help people and it’s fun because we get to go to a concert,” Swenson said.

10K will become more familiar to the Ambrose community as they get started this semester.

“I have been volunteering my whole life because it’s something I really enjoy. This is a really cool idea, so I hope people consider it,” Gorman said. “To me, this is just making volunteering even more fun.”

“For those who enjoy volunteering, we hope that they will continue through the 10,000 Hour Show,” Gorman said. “And for those who haven’t gotten involved in volunteering yet, we hope this will create an opportunity on campus which they will want to participate in.”