By Nate West
Assistant News Editor
Tomorrow, BonaResponds and other volunteers will participate in the third annual International Service Day.
International Service Day is an event that takes place all across the world. By the end of the day, BonaResponds is hoping to have 24 hours of community service completed worldwide.
“International Service Day is arguably the biggest single-day event of the year for our organization,” said graduate student Phil Penepent. “This day is a great way to show that if everyone in every corner of the world did something to make someone else’s day better, the world could be a much better place.”
Locally this year, BonaResponds will travel to Buffalo to work with Villa Maria College at the Bob Lanier Center. It will also work with St. Luke’s Mission of Mercy and Vive la Casa in Buffalo, doing a range of service activities from outdoor work to painting, said Penepent.
BonaResponds will also be in Olean painting and clearing out a basement in Cattaraugus County Mental Health Center. The group is expecting about 40 students to help out in Olean and 35 in Buffalo.
International Service Day won’t just happen in Western New York area, though.
“People will be volunteering all over the world under the flag of BonaResponds,” Penepent said.
“Locations this year include Haiti, Japan, Ghana, Spain, Chicago, Orange County (California), Baltimore, Dallas, India and Belize.”
BonaResponds has more it would like to achieve than just 24 hours of service, Penepent said.
“Volunteers will be able to record reflections of the day using our Google Voice (a phone to internet recording service) number, ” he said. “At the end of the day, we wish to have reflections from around the world of how people’s lives were impacted.”
Anyone interested in going to either Buffalo or Olean can still sign up. Those interested can go to bonaresponds.org. Anyone interested in going to Buffalo is asked to meet behind Murphy at 8:30 a.m., and those interested in volunteering in Olean should meet behind Murphy at 10:30 a.m. Lunch will be provided and work will conclude at 5 p.m. for each location.
westnl11@bonaventure.edu
