No fooling, students are cleaning up

April 1 may be April Fool’s Day, but UNMC students aren’t kidding around when they volunteer for UNMC Gives Back Day.

As always, the College of Public Health Student Association kicks off its observance of National Public Health Week with students, faculty and staff volunteering three hours of time to 12 social agencies in Omaha. This year, the association invited the UNMC Student Senate to join in on the first-ever campuswide volunteer day.

“‘UNMC Gives Back’ is a great opportunity for the campus to get involved in the community and provides a number of different ways to give back,” said Kushal Karan, M.D., president of the College of Public Health Student Association. “Work outside to keep Omaha beautiful or help the homeless get indoors. There is a cause you can volunteer for.

“Our goal also is to bring together students from the different colleges in working together for all these great causes. The College of Public Health Student Association is especially excited to be able to bring this event to the broader campus to emphasize National Public Health Week,” he said.

Volunteers are to meet at 8 a.m. at the College of Public Health for breakfast and carpool to sites where they work until noon. Then, it’s back to the college for lunch.

Volunteer sites are:

• Serene Care Hospice
• Keep Omaha Beautiful Inc.
• Together
• Heartland Hope Mission
• Heart Ministry Center
• inCOMMON
• Millard Branch: Omaha Public Library
• Habitat for Humanity
• Open Door Mission
• City Sprouts
• Sienna Francis House
• No More Empty Pots

Register here for a UNMC Gives Back site. Sign up for a carpool here.

Volunteer day kicks off the College of Public Health’s observance of National Public Health Week that will feature events for public health students, including public health bingo, a wellness walk, Research Day, a yogurt/parfait bar and a University of Nebraska at Omaha networking event.