This handout is designed to assist students in planning and coordinating community service activities within residence hall communities. The following information will help you in selecting, planning, and initiating a group service project.

PARE- Preparation, Action, Reflection, Evaluation
The PARE model is a simple way to plan community-responsive, effective, and successful projects for groups of students. The following questions within this model will guide you and your group in determining which type of service would be more rewarding.

PREPARATION
• Why is your residence hall interested in getting involved in community service?
• How many students are interested in getting involved in service?
• Do you want to do a one-time project or have an on-going project?
• Whom do you want to serve? What issues are important to the group?
• If you want to go off campus, what are your transportation options?
• When is your group available to do service?

ACTION
· Suggestions on different types of community service projects and opportunities are available in this packet. You can also access other ideas by visiting Community Service Programs, checking out our Web site, or calling our office.

REFLECTION
As a group leader, you can encourage your participants to think deeply about their service experience and learn from it. Reflection is a process that allows those participating in a service project to:
· Think about their experience and ask "why."
· Understand the complexity of the experience and put it in a larger context.
· Challenge, although not necessarily change, their own attitudes, beliefs, assumptions, privileges, or stereotypes.

EVALUATION
The following questions allow you to critically evaluate the project or experience:
• How successful was the project for the agency or community helped?
• How successful was the project for the group?
• How successful was the project for each participant?
• What changes could be made to improve the overall success of the project?
• Would you do it again?

ONE-TIME ON-CAMPUS SERVICE PROJECTS

· SANDWICH-MAKING PARTIES
Make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and bring them to a homeless shelter. See the Hunger and Homeless Handout, located on our Web site, for the names of local shelters that would appreciate sandwich donations. Representatives from community agencies are often willing to come to campus to pick-up the sandwiches and tell your group about what their organization does.

· CARD MAKING PARTIES
Make holiday cards for a nursing home, homeless shelters, etc. Many local nursing homes and hospitals will accept cards for their patients.

· BRING IN A SPEAKER
At no cost to you, the NAMES Project-AIDS Memorial Quilt will bring a panel of the quilt to campus and present on the program. For more information, call (202) 296-2637. The Capital Area Community Food Bank (CACFB) presents a program titled, "Hunger 101." To set-up a presentation, contact the CACFB at (202) 526-5344. For a larger group you can set-up a Hunger Banquet that helps individuals learn about poverty and hunger issues throughout the world. Oxfam America provides extensive information and consultation on how to set-up a Hunger Banquet. For further information, visit http://www.oxfamamerica.org/students/index.html

· ORGANIZE EVENTS FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Host a Halloween party, dance-a-thon, or read-a-thon for students from a local elementary. The America Reads program on campus brings elementary students to campus once a semester; groups of university students are often needed to sponsor one of the field trips or read to the children. For more information, contact America Reads at (301) 314-7321. Other ideas include sponsoring a child and providing holiday gifts, making Valentines cards, and putting together baskets for hospitals or nursing homes. See the Donations Handout on our Web site for specific agencies and organizations. We also collect information on organizations that need help during the winter holidays; to receive this information when it is available, contact our office.