The University of Kentucky’s FUSION 2015 (For Unity and Service In Our Neighborhoods) is the largest one-day service event in the state of Kentucky. In its 13th year, more than 75 community agencies and neighborhoods in the Lexington area participated, and more 1,300 faculty, staff, and students were involved in Fusion 2015 on Monday, August 24th.
Walt Bower, HDI’s Preservice Training Coordinator, volunteered as the site advisor for 9 college students building bird houses for bluebirds at the Central Kentucky Audubon Society. After greeting volunteers and participating in ice breakers, we traveled on buses to the site assignments.
Not only did each student build a birdhouse in a single day, but we hiked over a mile through the forest at the Raven Run Nature Sanctuary to hang one of the birdhouses on a fencepost. At the end of the day, the students completed a brief reflection on the day of service.
One of the students shared, “Building the birdhouses with my group was really enjoyable because it helped me get to know the other students and feel like I was making a difference at the same time.”
Sponsored by UK’s Center for Community Outreach, the mission of the Center for Community Outreach is to serve, connect, and unite the University of Kentucky with the surrounding community in collaborative efforts to promote life-long community service.