Contributed/ETSU

For students looking to become more involved in the Johnson City community, Volunteer ETSU provides a way to connect with local nonprofit organizations while learning what service looks like beyond campus.

Maria Sangry, president of Volunteer ETSU, is a senior majoring in biochemistry and health sciences. Sangry began her involvement with Volunteer ETSU as a leader in fall 2025 before becoming vice president in the spring and president this semester.

“I think community service really just means giving back, obviously, to your community and your region, but how you can make the people’s lives around you better and easier,” Sangry said.

Volunteer ETSU organizes service opportunities with nonprofit community partners including Appalachian Service Project, Goodwill, Coalition for Kids, Salvation Army and SMILE foster closet. According to Sangry, partners are selected based on where volunteers can be most useful and where their work can help organizations better serve the community.

At the Appalachian Service Project, for example, volunteers may not be directly building homes, but their work organizing tools and the warehouse still makes an impact.

“The coordinator there said that we were making a really big difference and that if we hadn’t been there, it would have taken him until Halloween to do the same amount of work we did,” Sangry said.

Student responses following The Plunge, an annual Preview Week service tradition, also reflected the impact of working behind the scenes. One student said, “Even the smallest bit of help in my community goes a long way.” Another student volunteering with Goodwill said there is “so much more behind the scenes than originally perceived.”

For many students, Sangry said, The Plunge was their first time volunteering in Johnson City, and for some, their first time participating in community service.

Volunteer ETSU is designed to make that first experience simple for students.

“It really is just a good way to get introduced to volunteering because everything that we do is to make it more accessible to students,” Sangry said.

Students register for a service day, receive follow-up information and arrive the morning of the event. Volunteers are introduced to the activity, served a light breakfast and then sent to their assigned sites.

Sangry said students who enjoy their experience can return to those organizations during future service days or speak directly with community partners about additional ways to become involved.

Volunteer ETSU is also working to launch its Bucs for Good initiative, which Sangry described as a way to bring service organizations together and promote volunteer opportunities happening across campus.

“There’s a lot of service going on around ETSU, and a lot of people don’t know about it,” Sangry said.

Students can stay updated about upcoming opportunities through Volunteer ETSU’s Instagram, GroupMe and the ETSU Serves email list.

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