Though the K-State Volunteer Center will not celebrate its grand opening until April 2008, it has already made its mark on Manhattan by planning the Community Service week, scheduled from Oct. 27-Nov. 3. Kim Frazier, assistant coordinator for the center, said the center will help any student find places to volunteer.

"The benefit is that the opportunities are at one central location," Frazier said. "We want to strengthen the relationship between K-State and the community."

Lucretia Helms, student coordinator for the volunteer center, said this is the center's first year planning Community Service Week.

"We are getting our feet wet," Helms said. "Planning the biggest event for volunteering in the fall is a great way to jump-start the center. There are plenty of openings, and places to get involved. We really want to connect the students to volunteering,"

She said many students want to volunteer but do not know where to look. The center gives students opportunities to find out how to help the community.

Lynda Bachelor, coordinator for the volunteer center, said Community Service Week has been successful with more than 300 community members and students helping at all the different locations.

"We started the week with volunteering at the zoo (Sunset Zoological Park), spending time with residents at Meadowlark (Hills), as well as helping 13 other agencies, and will conclude the week with the Good Neighbor program," Bachelor said.

She said the Good Neighbor program, which was created by the Student Government Association, is a way to get neighbors together and active while also cleaning their streets.

"It is on Friday and the neighborhoods have a high-density of students," Bachelor said. "We will be raking leaves and just doing an overall cleanup."

She said the volunteer center's mission statement is to help get the community and students working together.

"We want to give the campus and town of Manhattan resources to resolve community need," Bachelor said. "The community of Manhattan includes both the campus and town."

Bachelor said 1-800-volunteer.org is a valuable Web site for anyone wanting to find volunteer opportunities. She said there will be another site - which is still under construction - specifically for Manhattan.

The main link to finding opportunities is the Web site, Frazier said. Not only will there be links to service opportunities, but anyone will be able to keep track of their hours online.

"Anyone can sign up to volunteer, but we started funding in July, and are still working from the ground up but are already helping organizations around Manhattan," Frazier said.

Bachelor said the overall goal for the volunteer center is having everything in operation by April and having services easier to access.

"We want to help the students - not only help them find opportunities for volunteering but help them make their own service projects," Bachelor said. "By April, we want to be able to say, 'Here it is - here is the information.