February 3, 2025

Students engage with community through volunteer program

Students place oranges into distribution bags for the Food Bank of Lincoln.
Jordan Opp | University Communication and Marketing

Jordan Opp | University Communication and Marketing
University of Nebraska–Lincoln students place oranges into bags during SLICE’s Engage Lincoln volunteer project at the Food Bank of Lincoln on Jan. 30.

To make a difference, sometimes you have to engage.

During the last week of every month, University of Nebraska–Lincoln students journey to local nonprofits and lend a helping hand through Engage Lincoln. The program, organized by the university’s Student Leadership, Involvement and Community Engagement team, allows students to connect with the Lincoln community and give back.

“We’re all working together to meet community needs,” said Andrew Brown, assistant director of community engagement for SLICE.

SLICE has been hosting volunteer opportunities every month during the academic year as part of Engage Lincoln for about three years. Each month centers on a theme, with each of the five locations related to issues like food insecurity, literacy and education, or environmental sustainability. Brown said the causes are selected based on the Lincoln Vital Signs report and conversations with partner nonprofits about their greatest needs. The program partners with about 60 local nonprofit organizations.

About 10 to 20 volunteers per session help with tasks like organizing food donations, putting together literacy kits, cleaning up local trails or even walking dogs and playing with cats at the Humane Society. Each site has a student site leader, often students who are interested in doing nonprofit work in the future. For them, it can be a chance to get a feel for what a volunteer coordinator does. Others sign up to fulfill a class requirement or because of a particular interest in that month's cause.

“We get a good portion who are connected to the nonprofit already and they want to continue to help or they’re really passionate about the community need we’re serving and this is an avenue to help.”

Kati Umberger, volunteer manager for the Food Bank of Lincoln, one of the Engage Lincoln sites in January, said collaborating with entities like the university is invaluable to the organization. The Food Bank relies heavily on volunteer efforts, and having a consistent stream of volunteers keeps things moving smoothly.

“We can only do our work we do because of community support we have,” Umberger said. “We’re so lucky to have some longstanding partnerships, UNL being one of them.”

A man places a bag of oranges into a crate.
Jordan Opp | University Communication and Marketing
Mitch Breuer, junior regional and community forestry major, places bags of oranges into a container during SLICE’s Engage Lincoln at the Food Bank of Lincoln.

The number of volunteer hours at the Food Bank last year added up to nearly the hours of 25 full-time staff, which is roughly the number of full-time employees the Food Bank has.

“Volunteer efforts help double our operational impact,” Umberger said. “We wouldn’t be able to do what we do without them.”

Ben Bentzinger, a senior criminology and criminal justice major, started volunteering with Engage Lincoln about a year ago and now serves as a student site leader. Bentzinger said seeing numbers like how many meals the Food Bank gives area families is a reminder of why he does the work. For Bentzinger, Engage Lincoln is a small way to have a big impact.

“It isn’t something that’s taking a lot of time for students, but it fills my heart to see making that big of a difference in our community,” he said.

Brown wants students who participate in Engage Lincoln to walk away with new friends and community connections, but also a better understanding of how they can use their skills to help.

“It’s important for us to find a cause we believe in and then find the avenues to help within that cause,” Brown said.