LOCK HAVEN, Pa. - During the 2009-2010 academic year, the monetary value of Lock Haven University student volunteerism to Clinton County and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was $1,235,513. This calculation is based on value estimates from the Independent Sector (www.independentsector.org), a nonpartisan leadership coalition of over 600 organizations devoted to community service.

According to Anne-Marie Turnage, director of LHU’s MountainServe Center for Global Citizenship, 3,286 LHU students engaged in service and service-learning during 2009-2010, performing 59,257.25 hours of service.

Turnage noted that “LHU is committed to civic engagement.” She added, “It is very exciting to work with students and faculty who have such passion.”

Locally, LHU students tutored and mentored 2,500 youth, removed more than 1 ton of debris from stream beds and illegal dumpsites to improve steam quality, improved more than 2 miles of hiking trails, served 27 families in crisis during the holidays, mentored approximately 300 elderly people, and sponsored an essay contest for local youth through a minigrant from the Pennsylvania Campus Compact for the MLK Day of Service. In addition, LHU students provided clinical health outreach and education to more than 1,000 people in communities in Pennsylvania as well as Mexico and Morocco.

Through MountainServe’s three alternative spring break service trips, students were sent to Mission on the Bay in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi for disaster relief, Tighfist, Morocco to provide youth leadership development and clinical health care, and Zacatecas, Mexico, which included Physician Assistant students as well as Nursing students in Dr. Amy Way’s study abroad course at the Clearfield campus for clinical health outreach and hygiene, and nutrition education.
MountainServe Community Service continues to be recognized for its outstanding contributions to the community by being named for 2008-2009 to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for exemplary service to America’s communities. MountainServe and LHU were further honored this year by being welcomed as one of the newest members of the Talloires Network, an international association of institutions committed to strengthening the civic roles and social responsibilities of higher education. As a member of the Talloires, Lock Haven joins 164 prestigious institutions from around the globe in their commitment to civic engagement in higher education. Lock Haven is the first college or university in Pennsylvania to be accepted as a Talloires member.
Turnage said, “Lock Haven University is committed to fostering citizenship, leadership and participation in public life.”