YOUNGSTOWN Volunteers dare to care, which makes a difference

Dare to Care volunteers visited about 20 agencies Friday.
By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Andre Sahyoun of Boardman had never volunteered before when he showed up at the Red Cross office in Warren last fall to help the group move to a new building.
Afterward, he was hooked.
"It was my first experience as a volunteer in the community and I didn't know what to expect," said Sahyoun, a Youngstown State University marketing management major. "It turned out to be great, better than I thought it would be."
Sahyoun has since volunteered for the United Way, and on Friday he spent time helping out the Trumbull Lifelines Mental Health and Recovery Network and its Rebecca Williams Community Center.
All three activities were organized through the Williamson College of Business Administration at YSU. Friday was the second annual Dare to Care event, through which public relations students and others volunteer at area nonprofit agencies. Jane Reid, a marketing professor, said about 210 students signed up to help out.
Agencies visited
They visited about 20 agencies, including Goodwill Industries, Easter Seals, Boys and Girls Club, Mill Creek Children's Center, Second Harvest Foodbank and Neighborhood Ministries.
Reid said Dare to Care started last year as the university launched its Center for Nonprofit Leadership and wanted to showcase the university's connection with nonprofit groups in the area.
Students, she said, learn that nonprofit groups operate like for-profit businesses, and the college of business gets a chance to give back to the community.
This was the first Dare to Care for Brandi Panning of Hubbard, an advertising and public relations major. But, she said, she's volunteered in the community since she was in high school and has coached pee-wee cheerleading.
"It makes you feel good to help someone out," she said.
She donated her time at Hospice of the Valley on Friday, preparing a mass mailing with about 40 other students.
What group did
The group helped collate, envelope, label and sort about 5,000 mailings, Panning said. While it was a big job, she liked being able to help out and to be with her peers.
"Everyone was working together as a group," she said. "We can all get it done if we work together."
Sahyoun said he was required to volunteer this year, as part of a public relations course at YSU, but that's not the reason he showed up on Friday.
"After last year, I would have signed up for it anyway," he said. "If it's here next year, I'll do it again."