Students volunteered their help to many local non-profit and service groups present at the 9th Annual Community Volunteer Fair held on Jan. 27 in Plaster Student Union.

About 50 groups representing a myriad of causes set up booths at the event.

Lori Street, representing Ozarks Public Television, said she spoke to around 40 students during the fair about her group.

“We need volunteers primarily to work during pledge drives to answer telephones,” she said, adding that students can also help with bulk mailings to existing donors and other special events as need.

Ozarks Public Television provides PBS content to the Ozarks area and is funded through donations.

Karl Schmidt of the Southwest Missouri Region of the American Heart Association also was pleased with student interest in the volunteer event.

“Students are interested in not only helping us, but the community as a whole,” Schmidt said. The group had signed up six students during the three-hour event.

Schmidt was primarily working to promote the upcoming Heart Walk, held April 10. The five kilometer walk is a national campaign to promote healthy living through exercise. Groups participating gather donations, with the money going towards medical research and educational programs.

“It helps save lives,” Schmidt said.

Tiffany Warriner, representing the Alzheimer’s Association, found that many of the students who visited her group’s booth knew someone who had suffered from the disease and either wanted to help the cause or wanted more information on Alzheimer’s.

“We can always use volunteers and extra help,” Warriner said. About 20 students had signed up for information at her booth.

The event was sponsored by Missouri State’s office of Citizenship and Service-Learning (CASL).

Service-learning links “academics to the community (in order) to develop the skills, sensitivities, and commitments necessary or effective citizenship in a democracy,” according to the CASL website.

More information can be found at www.missouristate.edu/casl.