As part of the biannual Volunteer Fair, organizations set up booths in the Shepherd Union Atrium on Wednesday morning to show Weber State University students what service opportunities are available. The Community Involvement Center sponsored the fair, which lasted from 8 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.

Thirty-two community partners were present, all having volunteer, internship and service opportunities for WSU students, faculty and staff. The organizations present included Big Brothers Big Sisters of Utah, Girl Scouts of Utah, the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah and the Ogden Nature Center.

“The Volunteer Fair is designed as an event that benefits both campus and community,” said Mike Moon, assistant director of the CIC.

The fair gives students the chance to fulfill service requirements for community-based learning classes, any extracurricular service, or any club service or sports service that is required. The nonprofit organizations and government agencies are able to recruit and fill volunteer positions within their organizations.

Moon said the fair is a great way to introduce organizations with available opportunities to members of WSU who are interested in giving some type of service or volunteer work. He said he especially likes the fair because it gives prospective volunteers the chance to meet various organizations in person.

“I think that there’s something much more powerful to meeting with a community partner face to face,” Moon said. “People should definitely take advantage of the fair as an in-person connection to service in our community.”

Bridget Larsen, a WSU student studying interior design technology, said she was glad to have the chance to learn about so many organizations through the fair.

“I think it’s great that we have a chance to serve as a community and represent Weber State,” Larsen said. “(At the fair) you see all the opportunities that are available that maybe otherwise you wouldn’t know about.”

Chloe Haderlie, another WSU student, said she loved how organized and together everything in the fair was. This made it easy for her to find new opportunities.

“I just love the fact that this is a service that the school provides for us,” Haderlie said. “It’s great how available it is.”

Jenny Frame worked the fair at the booth for the Ogden Nature Center.

“I think that it went really well,” Frame said. “I believe that we had even more interest this year than we did last year.”

Similarly, Tabb George with Big Brothers Big Sisters said the response to the fair this year was excellent.

“We had a lot of conversations with a lot of students, not only with people with service-learning classes, but also just generally wanting to volunteer and give back,” George said.

Students who missed the fair but are still interested in volunteer work can visit the CIC’s website. The website has information on all of the community partners at the fair, plus on others that weren’t in attendance — more than 100 community partners in total. The website is www.weber.edu/communityinvolvement.

The next Volunteer Fair sponsored by the CIC is scheduled for Jan. 16, also in the Shepherd Union Atrium.