CSI: College Town Service Initiative set for Saturday, Feb. 24
Students from Spartanburg’s colleges to provide assistance to local service organizations

SPARTANBURG, SC – Spartanburg Methodist College students will be among 300 students from Spartanburg’s six colleges and universities coming together to make Spartanburg a better place on Saturday, Feb. 24, as they participate in the fourth annual “CSI: College Town Service Initiative,” providing services to more than a dozen service agencies around the community.

This year’s theme is “Service Is Good.”

CSI is a project of the College Town consortium, a collaboration of the institutions of higher education in Spartanburg County – Converse College, Sherman College, Spartanburg Methodist College, Spartanburg Community College, the University of South Carolina Upstate and Wofford College.  It is the fourth service initiative undertaken by students through College Town.

This year, students will participate in groups of varying sizes to provide much-needed services to a variety of Spartanburg service agencies.  The agencies involved include The Haven, Habitat for Humanity, the Charles Lea Center, Miracle Life Mission, the Bethlehem Center and the Salvation Army Thrift Store.  (A complete list is provided below.)

“We hope that through this event, we can instill in the hearts and minds of students at local colleges and universities in Spartanburg the value of serving others,” says Kim Day, director of student activities and leadership development at Spartanburg Methodist College and chair of the CSI planning committee.  “We hope that students will be exposed to service opportunities throughout the Spartanburg community as well as interaction with students from other colleges and universities.”

Students will be doing everything from minor repair work and painting to preparing food and serving food to creating activities for children and more.

The day for CSI will begin with a light breakfast and project signup at the First Baptist Church Hangar at 9:30 a.m.  Participating students will receive T-shirts when they sign up for their projects.  Spartanburg Mayor Bill Barnet, along with some of the presidents of the colleges, will welcome and address the students, who then will depart at about 10:30 a.m. to their project sites.

The students will return to the Hangar for a 1 p.m. lunch and reflection on their work and impact.

The agencies where students will work are:

• The Haven
• Ellen Hines Smith Girls Home
• Habitat for Humanity
• Safe Homes
• Interim Hospice
• Bethlehem Center
• Miracle Life Mission
• Charles Lea Center
• Children’s Shelter
• SPACE
• Spartanburg Humane Society
• The Salvation Army Thrift Store
• Magnolia Place

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