The University Retirees Volunteer Center (URVC) extends a special welcome to the 200-plus new members who have joined UMRA in the past two years. URVC is the primary means by which UMRA meets the “service” component of its tripartite mission of engagement, education, and service. If you are looking for ways to get to know other UMRA folks and, at the same time, to give back to the community, please consider participating in UMRA’s Silver Gopher Service Corps in the coming months.

The Silver Gopher program is one highly successful outcome of the recent UMRA and URVC reaffiliation. Since the program’s launch last spring, 60 UMRA members have volunteered in seven team projects, contributing 220 hours to the University campus and community. 

Volunteers report they like activities that make a difference and, at the same time, allow them to meet new people. Scott Elton, for example, helped greet would-be students and their families participating in the Office of Admission’s “Future Gophers” program at the University last April. He reported that he enjoyed sporting his Silver Gopher Service Corps T-shirt as he snapped photos of families posing alongside a snow-covered Goldy near Coffman Memorial Union.

Building on a core set of projects from the past year, the Volunteer Center anticipates more team-oriented opportunities to be available in the coming months, such as:

• volunteering with Admissions and Orientation & Transition Experiences staff to welcome and guide new and prospective students and their families as they explore or transition to the U of M Twin Cities campus;
• volunteering with the local nonprofit Every Meal to pack weekend food supplies for underserved youth and other populations; and 
• volunteering with Great River Greening on landscape and pollinator restoration projects in the Twin Cities area.

In addition to Silver Gopher projects, URVC works with campus and community organizations to develop meaningful individual volunteer engagement opportunities. In fact, over the past five years more than 400 URVC volunteers have provided approximately 38,000 hours of service to the University and community. 

Visit the URVC website for additional information, or contact the URVC office at [email protected] or 612-625-8016.

—Peggy Mann Rinehart