Spring Break is just around the corner, and TeamVOLS is preparing for its annual alternative trip. Each year TeamVOLS breaks up into teams of around 25 and travels to different cities to perform community service.
As it is thought, college students have to find other means of support besides scrounging around their couch looking for spare change. That is why each year, TeamVOLS hosts its Spaghetti for Service fundraiser.
This fundraiser has two separate times: Feb. 20 from 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m., and Feb. 23 from 5:30-8 p.m. in the Black Cultural Center.
Mark Moore, senior in special education, is one of the team leaders for the trip, and said that the success of this trip is linked with the money raised at Spaghetti for Service.
“We use this money to help fundraise the food we eat and the transportation, and it is one way to keeping our costs low compared to other schools,” Moore said.
Last year TeamVOLS took two teams to Biloxi, Miss. and Chicago.
Katherine Hatcher, senior in biological sciences, went to Biloxi, Miss. where they helped build a nature center for middle school and high school students.
“They were wanting to build that in an area that had been completely flooded by Hurricane Katrina,” Hatcher said.
In the past, teams have also helped with local YMCAs or food banks around the particular area.
“Normally we try and focus on a centralized goal in one of the cities,” Hatcher said.
Moore went on the other trip to Chicago where they visited alternative school groups where the social standing of the students greatly affected their lives.
“We go to various cities depending on their needs, and we do our research and we figure out what their city is known for,” Moore said. “We go out there and we try to make some social changes and expose our group of students to those changes so they can hopefully bring those back to Knoxville.”
Moore said these trips really give students the opportunity to see what life is like outside the walls of Knoxville in regards to social change and interaction within the community.
As for the fundraiser itself, spaghetti’s versatility makes it the main course of choice.
“It’s definitely easy to serve the masses, but it’s also a lot of fun to make,” Hatcher said. “One of our graduate assistants used to work in the restaurant business and he loves to cook in general. So that’s one thing you can cook in bulk, it’s fun to cook and it’s delicious.”
A wide range of people usually attend this event because of the diverse group of students that is involved in TeamVOLS.
“We choose such a wide variety of students for our teams; we reach almost every aspect of UT’s campus,” Hatcher said. “We’re not just getting students but we’re getting staff members and faculty and people’s family. It’s not just limited to people who are interested in volunteering.”
And yet, though the spaghetti may be “delicious,” it’s the pudding that gets all the publicity.
“It’s really good — a cohesive and delicious dessert,” Hatcher said.
