LSU Law students and Professor John Devlin volunteered at the USS KIDD Veterans Museum as part of the Spring Day of Service on Saturday, Feb. 4.
Approximately 120 LSU Law students contributed 370 hours of volunteer work at sites throughout Baton Rouge on Saturday, Feb. 4, as part of the Public Interest Law Society and Student Bar Association’s annual Spring Day of Service.
“The students from LSU Law were a breath of fresh air. They were very friendly, polite, and a blast to work with,” said Matthew Pineda, community engagement coordinator for Parole Project, which was one of eight organizations that benefitted from the students’ work. “We were able to assemble three picnic tables during the day, all of which will be used at different transitional houses for the Parole Project. Our clients will use these tables for eating, socializing, having gatherings with other Parole Project clients, and everyday activities like reading, letter writing and filling out various applications.”
Students also volunteered at the USS KIDD Veterans Museum, Cat Haven, Friends of the Animals, OLOL Children’s Health Children’s Developmental Center at McMains, Junior Achievement of Greater Baton Rouge, Knock Knock Children’s Museum, and LSU Campus Sustainability. The Spring Day of Service surpassed PILS and SBA’s goal of contributing 300 total hours of volunteer work, which was the total hours of work contributed during the Fall Day of Service on Aug. 27, 2022.
At Junior Achievement, students helped repurpose classroom kits for fourth and fifth grade students.
“We use hundreds of kits to mentor elementary students in financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship,” said Junior Achievement Mentorship Specialist Nicole McAlister. “Junior Achievement provides volunteers with the classroom materials and are provided detailed instruction on how to prepare for their classroom experience. Through the volunteerism of students at LSU Law, Junior Achievement can use those repurposed classroom kits for future classes. Our organization has a small staff, so we’re grateful to groups like PILS and SBA for their assistance in this cost-saving effort of both time and money.”
Students spent their time at Cat Haven cleaning litter boxes, sanitizing rooms, and cuddling kittens.
“Volunteers play a vital role in helping our organization run smoothly. When members of the community come in to help us with daily tasks, they help create clean, safe, and enriching environments for our kitties,” said Briana Tumminello of Cat Haven. “This is so important to their health and well-being while waiting for their forever home! We deeply appreciate everyone who spends their time and effort USS
Over at Friends of the Animals, students helped clean the facility and adoption house.
“They also set up the six yards for when the dogs arrive and go outside to play. Students also helped us dismantle items in our shed as we are tearing it down this week and replacing it. This was huge as they had to takeout kennels and organize items we were donating from ones we were keeping. We also always have laundry as we do not have an area for washing. We even had students leave with bags of laundry,” said Paula Schoen of Friends of the Animals. “This group was amazing. As I told them, I hope they come back to play with the dogs. Thank you for all your help!”
USS KIDD Veterans Museum Volunteer Coordinator Elijah Otto said the LSU Law students were a “tremendous help” on the Spring Day of Service.
“Teams cleaned the Forward Berthing spaces, where the sailors slept, swept and mopped, and deep-cleaned spaces that are open to the public on the self-guided tour,” he said. “It’s efforts like these that help maintain our ship.”
