Volunteers level and measure food for those in need at the BE KIND Food Packing Event on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2026, at Ohio State’s Pack Shack location. Credit: Courtesy of Ohio State Student Life
“Get involved” is a phrase heard frequently across Ohio State’s campus, but for students, it isn’t always as easy as it sounds.
Between lectures, exams and the fast-paced rhythm of campus life, finding time to volunteer can fall through the cracks of the undergraduate experience. According to volunteer program coordinators, service opportunities can be found on campus, around Columbus and in the classroom.
For Vincent Concialdi, a fourth-year in biomedical engineering and president of H20 Church, a Christian student organization that regularly partners with nonprofits across Columbus, he said giving back to his community is something he feels called to.
On Sept. 17, volunteers from H2O Church joined Ohio State’s BE KIND Food Packing Event at the Recreation and Physical Activity Center, Concialdi said, and assembled meals for Ohio residents experiencing food insecurity in Southern Ohio counties, including college food banks in Columbus.
“We spent the evening serving alongside others, packing food and helping the community,” the organization said in an Instagram post.
The BE KIND event serves as an entry point for Ohio State students who are looking to get involved in community service.
Columbus Gives Back — a nonprofit that organizes volunteer projects across the city — aims to build a pipeline between education and service for young professionals, said Brooke Sheridan, the organization’s president.
“While you’re in college now, being out there, talking to and meeting people is really important,” Sheridan said. “That’s what we try to emphasize.”
Columbus Gives Back began in 2009 with a Craigslist post that read? “volunteers-needed” by founder Juliana Pernick. The organization has since grown into a nonprofit that coordinates service events across Columbus, Sheridan said.?
The nonprofit focuses on food insecurity, health support, education, park cleanups and other community needs, Sheridan said. The organization frequently partners with Equitas, a medical center, and Keep Columbus Beautiful, an environmental clean-up initiative.??
For Columbus Gives Back, becoming an event leader is an encouraged and respected role within the nonprofit, Sheridan said. These roles bridge the gap between students who want to get more involved in community service while gaining professional development experience.?
To become an event leader, applicants must be 21 or older, have attended at least four programs and participated in one post-volunteering social event, according to the website.
“Being surrounded by people who have no motive other than wanting to just do good and be helpful really does help with the tiniest glimmer of hope,” Sheridan said.
Ohio State students interested in consistent volunteer opportunities can also earn college credit through the 3-credit course Leadership in Community Service, according to the Office of Academic Enrichment’s website.
The course was integrated in the 1990s, when former faculty member Susan Jones created it as an extension of her research on service-learning on college campuses, according to the website. Carla Elliott, a senior lecturer in the Department of Educational Studies, has taught the course since 2023.?
“This is a great opportunity to have intentional time built into your schedule to reflect on how you can better serve others,” Elliott said.
The course, offered in both the autumn and spring semesters, focuses on fostering conversations through case-study workshops and reflections on volunteer experiences — teaching students the values that make service fundamental to the Columbus community and to students’ future careers, Elliott said.
While the course spotlights recommended nonprofit organizations, Elliott said it remains student-driven and is shaped by what draws each student to giving back. Alternate organizations proposed by students must be in-person, local, available throughout the semester and connected to a social justice cause.
Elliott describes the course load as a mix of reflections on volunteer experiences and discussing how such opportunities can contribute to a community.
“We shouldn’t be making assumptions about what the community needs,” Elliott said. “We’re there to understand and to listen to the community rather than showing up thinking, ‘I have all the solutions, I have all the answers.’”
Elliott said her hope is that students who take the course do not simply show up, volunteer and move on from service opportunities, but think deeper about how they can impact their community.?
“I always tell my students, if you take a minute to think more critically about yourself and?
how you can show up for people in a better way, I feel like I’ve done my job,” Elliott said.
To begin volunteering, Sheridan said the only requirement is a willingness to be open to new opportunities, and recommends starting small.?
For Sheridan, she said it took just one event to feel connected to service, and even through global interruptions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, that sense of community remained her motivation.
“Especially during these trying times, when it feels like there is so much out of our control, caring about and devoting time to [volunteering] — it does feel good,” Sheridan said.
