Community SERVICE

Some of the ways in which Widener strives to be responsive to the needs of its communities include:

Alternative Spring Break (ASB) is a volunteer-based club that has a membership of over 80 students. During undergraduate spring break, ASB travels to five or six different sites around the nation, working directly with Habitat for Humanity affiliates, in hopes to partner to build a house in that one week. ASB sites for 2009 included Texas, Arizona, Alabama, Florida, and Lousiana.

Widener Big Friends 

The Widener Big Friends program, partners with Crozer-Keystone's Community Hospital after -school program for second and third grade students from the Chester community. Once a week, students come to the university to receive a nutritious snack and spend time with their Widener Big Friend. Volunteers serve as tutors and mentors. For more information, please contact Dana Bay at dmbay@widener.edu.

Big Brothers & Big Sisters College Bigs

Now In its fifth year [pdf, 40k], Widener's Bigs program, a collaboration with Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Southeastern Pennsylvania, attracts volunteers from the Main Campus to spend time with children from the Stetser Elementary School, which is adjacent to Widener's Main Campus.

Annual Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA)

During the Spring semester, Widener students volunteer to help low-income Chester residents with their federal, state, and local income taxes as part of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance(VITA) program. Offered through the Delaware County Asset Development(DelcoAD) working group of Philadelphia Higher Education Network for Neighborhood Development (PHEND), the students, as well as other community volunteers, helped 1, 300 low income taxpayers obtain over $1.5 million in federal tax refunds in  2008.

Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service

During our annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, Chester community volunteers along with students, faculty and staff, take on various community-enriching projects. Afterwards, participants marched to the former Crozer Theological Seminaryin Chester (where Dr. King received his bachelor of divinity degree), to place a wreath there in memory of Dr. King.

Widener Cares Tutoring Project

Now in its eighth year, the WIdener Cares Tutoring Project connects members of the Widener campus community with elementary and middle school students in Chester-area schools. Volunteers spend an hour a week at one of three sites: Freedom Baptist Church, The Nia Center, and the Unity Center.  

Annual Red Cross Blood Drive

The Widener University Student Nursing Association (WUSNA) sponsor a community-wide blood drive on the Main Campus every February in conjunction with American Red Cross.

Melissa Diane Oits
Greek Life &
Volunteer Services
tel: 610-499-4411
mdoits@widener.edu

Office of Student Life
Widener University
One University Place
Chester, PA 19013-5792