ANN ARBOR—Students from two University of Michigan schools will get to know the communities in and around Ann Arbor as they dive into community service activities this week.

Students from the School of Public Health will spread out into five Michigan counties 1:30-3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 29, for the annual Practice Plunge. Organizers say the day of service is a way for students to receive an introduction to the communities in which they will engage in public health activities throughout their U-M careers.

In addition to rolling up their sleeves in service to a community-based organization, students meet with local leaders and learn about public health programs in the area and problems facing the region.

The U-M School of Social Work has organized its annual “Fall Orientation Community Service Day” in Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and Detroit 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 28. Students will put social work into action at nine sites while interacting with faculty and community members. These organizations assist senior citizens, the homeless, adults with mental illness, and children.

SPH Practice Plunge activities include:

• Tour of the Genesee County Health Department, and then work at the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan, where they will check, clean, label, sort and box food and nonfood packaged items.
• Lenawee County Health Department tour and rotation between three organizations. At Habitat for Humanity ReStore, students will help organize the store that sells building supplies with proceeds going back into the program to build homes for families in need. They will work in the community garden at Hope Community Center, a recreation center for adults with disabilities. Students also will stuff backpacks for children who need school supplies for associated charities.
• Oakland County Health Division tour and then work at the Baldwin Center, assisting with a back-to-school event, distributing more than 600 backpacks to children in need of school supplies.
• After a visit to the Wayne County Public Health Department students will tour and then work at Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency at the Highland Park Head Start, creating bulletin boards and conducting classroom clean up and recruitment activities.
• A tour of Washtenaw County Public Health Department will be followed by work at Food Gatherers, SOS Community Services or Avalon Housing. Students will help with food programs at Food Gatherers and SOS. They will assist Avalon with the organic garden at Arbordale Community Center.

More about Practice Plunge: http://practice.sph.umich.edu/practice/practiceplunge.php

SSW “Community Service Day” locations include:

• Students will plan exercising and outdoor games with senior citizens, as well as perform cleaning assignments and yard work, at Hannan Foundation’s Village of Woodbridge and Village of Oakman Manor in Detroit.
• Detroit-based Guidance Center: Kids-TALK Children’s Advocacy Center helps suspected child victims of sexual abuse, physical abuse, neglect or other forms of psychological trauma. Students will clean walls and paint in the carriage house for medical exams. Other projects may include the sorting of toys and assembling mailings for fundraisers.
• Cleaning the Time for Tots day care center and buses is planned at SOS Community Services, a nonprofit organization in Ypsilanti that serves homeless families and children in Washtenaw County.
• Ann Arbor’s Bryant Community Center, which is operated by the Community Action Network, will have its existing drainage system converted into a functional rain garden. Students will remove bushes/brush and concrete blocks, as well complete digging work.
• When students assist Gleaners Community Food Bank in Detroit, they will help a location that distributes more than 28 million pounds of food annually, equivalent to over 404,000 meals per month. They will also tour several Detroit communities and learn more about the city’s challenges and accomplishments

For a complete list of SSW volunteer sites: http://ssw.umich.edu/current/newstudent/OrientationSchedule.html