Free Energy Offer (Get Yours Now) In Farmville And Prince Edward

Published 3:21 pm Thursday, September 22, 2011

Gas prices are higher than a flock of kites in the jet stream but there are energy savings galore in and around Farmville.

Does free energy strike anyone's fancy?

Thanks to their relentless commitment to community service, a thousands-strong army of student volunteers lives in the heart of the Heart of Virginia. No university in the Commonwealth has a student body more determined than Longwood to give its time making a difference in the college town they call home nine months out of the year. During those nine months, they give birth to enough service projects to fill a town twice the size of Farmville. And six miles away, the students of Hampden-Sydney College are also keen to contribute their energy in meaningful ways to the betterment of Farmville and Prince Edward.

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Boundless energy and all free for the asking.

So ask.
<br />The academic year is young, barely a month old, and we'd all be so utterly foolish not to embrace these wonderful volunteers who ask for nothing more than this: after they have volunteered once, they'd like a second, third, and fourth chance to donate their time during the 2011-12 academic year.

During the recent meet and greet dinner hosted by Dr. Heather Lettner-Rust's English 400 class at LU-to bring students and Town Council together-volunteerism was a major theme at the table we shared, students raising the subject themselves as one of the highlights of their time in Farmville and at Longwood. Their enthusiasm was palpable and genuine.

Longwood University's website has enough information for students regarding volunteer community service to constitute an online how-to-volunteer encyclopedia.

The university held what LU rightly billed as a Volunteer and Involvement Fair Fall 2011 this month, connecting agencies and organizations interested in working with Longwood students and LU students eager to volunteer. More than 20 local agencies and organizations knew a good thing when they saw one and participated. Moreover, organizations such as FACES, Habitat For Humanity, the Y, Southside SPCA, and Operation Christmas Child understand from experience the volunteer power that local college students can bring their causes. LU will hold another Volunteer and Involvement Fair at the beginning of next semester.

Be there.

And seek out student volunteers from H-SC, as well.

In accepting the generosity of spirit rippling outward from both campuses your organization will be receiving gifts of those students' time, talent and energy but the opportunity you provide them in return is a gift of equal, or greater, measure. Those students will be shaped by their experience and many will find that giving themselves in service to others is a treasure so priceless that it cannot be stolen or rust away-and so as they leave Farmville and Prince Edward County they will cherish that knowledge, taking it with them into the communities they will come to call home in the years after graduation, and into the lives of their children, who may learn from their parents' example.

If your organization did not attend LU's Volunteer and Involvement Fair, have no fear. Both Longwood and H-SC make it easy to harness student power. Simply go to their respective websites, or give them a call. The answer will be greater than you can imagine, as will be the answer you give, in return, to those students.

Energy costs?

Not here.

Not any.

-JKW-