Leadership Putnam collecting information for new volunteer center at TTU

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (Dec. 12, 2003) — Santa Claus may know who’s naughty and nice, but it’s Leadership Putnam representatives who’ll be polling local businesses and agencies in the next few weeks to determine their volunteer needs.

Leadership Putnam is a personal development program designed to enhance the quality of participants’ leadership skills to help address essential community needs, and the information collected during this project will be used by Tennessee Tech University to create a perpetual database for a planned volunteer center at the university.

The idea for the center began with sophomore Melissa Benjamin and junior Melissa Ryglewski, who both represent the College of Education on the Student Government Association. It will serve a two-fold purpose of connecting students to opportunities for community service and professional experience while providing needed volunteer assistance to participating public organizations.

Named for the University of Promise effort, which makes TTU a partner in a national movement to help build the character and competence of the nation’s youth, the center is expected to significantly increase the community involvement of young adults.

The Promise Volunteer Center at TTU will itself be operated by student volunteers, who will log the number of volunteer hours participating students provide to the community, as well as record up-to-date information about the requirements, duties, hours, locations and directors or supervisors of participating public organizations.

It’s set to open in March, in conjunction with TTU’s annual Stonecipher Symposium on Technology, Communication and Culture — this year’s theme of which is volunteerism.

Registration forms for businesses and organizations interested in participating in the university’s volunteer program are available from Leadership Putnam representatives.

For more information, call Marcia Borys at 526-2060 or e-mail her at mborys@putnamco.org

--Tracey LeFevre
This information posted 15 December 2003