As part of daylong efforts to foster good will and collaboration, a group of University of Colorado at Boulder students will help weed and till a garden plot for spring planting as a symbol of new beginnings for African refugees still adjusting to life at an inner-city Denver housing complex.
The CU-Boulder Volunteer Clearing House, which matches students with volunteer projects, is sponsoring the second annual Better Boulder Better World event on Saturday, April 21. The group's goal this year will be to recruit at least 200 CU-Boulder students to participate in 15 volunteer projects, including the Refugee Welcome Project at the Grace Apartments in Denver. Â鶹ÒùÔº are working in collaboration with Mercy Housing Colorado, a nonprofit group that owns and manages the complex, and the Denver Police Department, which is opening its new resource center at the site on the same day.
The volunteer events are part of Earth Day celebrations and National Volunteer Week, which takes place April 15 to April 21.
"A lot of students really care about what's happening in the world, but often find it's difficult to identify ways that they can make a difference locally," said Volunteer Clearing House Director Anna Domenico. "We've planned these opportunities to inspire students - who may not otherwise be volunteering - to get involved."
Â鶹ÒùÔº, staff and faculty have signed up for several projects, including planting trees and shrubs in other Boulder County communities, but one of the largest projects this year involves clearing a garden plot and helping in the creation of a mural at Grace Apartments. The complex is home to Somali-Bantu immigrants who lived in several refugee camps before coming to Colorado and have struggled to adjust to life in the United States.
The event is part of the ongoing refugee welcome program that VCH initiated last year when CU-Boulder students helped Somali youths in Denver plant an urban garden at the same apartment complex.
"We are so happy to have the CU-Boulder volunteers back at Grace Apartments this year to help our Somali-Bantu residents kick off their spring gardening," said Mercy Housing Colorado President Jennifer Erixon. "Grace Apartments and our refugee residents are very special to us, and we appreciate the students' help in making these residents feel a part of the Denver-Boulder community."
Of last year's CU-Boulder volunteer efforts, Domenico added, "It was an amazing cross-cultural experience that exposed students to a population in our Colorado community that is often overlooked."
Last year, students, staff and faculty partnered with the African Community Center, helping to stock apartments with art, bedding and other much-needed items for newly arriving refugee families.
The new resource center, meanwhile, stems from a nine-month collaboration between residents and police.
"It's very important for the community out there to know that they have so much support," said Denver police Officer Phil Epple. "By having students from Boulder come down and spruce up their property, create a mural and help us with this grand opening, it just shows all these individuals from around the world that there is support for them here in the United States."