Get Volunteers

The Center for Community Service (CCS) works with students, faculty, staff and with local community leaders to identify volunteer opportunities where the College can collaborate with local organizations and agencies on service projects.

Volunteer projects coordinated with the CCS fall into two categories:

• Short term/Episodic: Volunteers are needed to assist with a short term event or community goal. Examples of these types of events include students' participation in Christmas in Action, Clean up Days or Art in the Park.
• Long term/Transformational: The CCS collaborates with a local organization to identify and share resources to develop long-term and sometimes co-curricular projects. Examples of these types of partnerships include students' participation in Reading Buddies Program and Knox County Boys and Girls Club.

How does it work?
Once you register your volunteer event with the CCS, we advertise the event to all students on campus. If students are interested they sign up through the CCS and we collect all of their contact information. As we get closer to your event date we contact you with a list of the volunteers' names and confirm all other arrangements. When possible, we identify a student leader to help you coordinate your event. Following the date of the event, the CCS will contact you to follow up and collect feedback about the event and the volunteers. At this time we will also ask you for a copy of your volunteer list with the number of hours that were worked.

How can I register my volunteer event with the Center for Community Service?
Contact our office via phone 309-341-7085 or e-mail volunteer@knox.edu to request a Community Partner and Event Registration application.

Is there a deadline for registering a volunteer event?
The CCS needs to receive requests for volunteers four weeks in advance of the event.

After I register my event, what happens next?
The CCS advertises your event to all students on campus via email. From there, interested students sign up to participate. Once a list of volunteers is generated, the CCS contacts the community partner with a list of the students' names and confirms a meeting time and place with all contact information. The students are then reminded of the event with all location and transportation information.

Who takes care of transportation?
For short term or one-time events the students provide their own transportation unless the community partner makes other arrangements. For long term or co-curricular opportunities, the CCS works with each community organization to identify resources to address transportation needs.

Can I come to the College campus to help promote my event?
Yes, arrangements can be made for you to visit the campus. We can offer you a table in our student union: Seymour Lobby where you can meet with students and work with an assistant from the CCS. We can also arrange a "meet and greet," where we would reserve a room and invite students to attend a presentation designed by your organization or an informational meeting about your event.

Are there specific times of the year that are better or worse for promoting a volunteer event?
Knox College works with a three term academic calendar (see below). We have identified potential black-out times at the beginning and the end of each term to allow for students to get reacquainted after a break or to allow students to focus on academics during final exams. You should also check the Knox College events calendar to see when the College is hosting special events such as Homecoming or Parents Weekend.