Joseph McKeen
Center for the Common Good

The Bowdoin Volunteer Corps (BVC) is an umbrella organization for Bowdoin student-led community service programs.  The BVC is made up of twenty-eight student-led organizations that address a wide range of community needs.  Each group works closely with local agencies, placing Bowdoin students in volunteer positions that meet those needs.   Contact the student leaders for more information about how to get involved!

Bowdoin Volunteer Corps Groups

Bear Buddies

 A program for children with physical and mental disabilities. Meets weekly for afternoon activities. For more information, contact Samuel Burnim '14 and Isabelle Franks '14.

Bears and Cubs

 Matches Bowdoin students with children waiting for a Big Brother or Big Sister. Meets every other Sunday in the gym for afternoon activities. For more information, contact Kasey Suitor '12 and Ted Clark '13

Blogging Buddies

Works with local middle school students to develop art and writing skills through an interactive online blog. For more information, contact Chelsea Youn '14 and Jesse Gildesgame '13.

Book Buddies

Volunteers work one-on-one as tutors and mentors with ESL students at Coffin Elementary. For more information, contact Anna Nussbaum '13.

Bowdoin Artist Activists

Students will collaborate to make public art as a means of raising awareness of social and political issues, sparking discussion, and helping to empower the Bowdoin community to make change in the world.  For more information, contact Haley Gewandter '14.

Bowdoin Central Mentoring

Members mentor students at Bowdoin Central Elementary School. For more information, contact Julia Livermore '13, Emily Carr '14, Emma Johnson '14, and Laurel Varnell '14.

Ca$h Coalition

Volunteers receive training in tax preparation and financial resources and provide assistance to low and middle income individuals during tax season. For more information, contact Christopher Kan '13 and Amy Sham '13.

College Guild

 Members provide educational support for prisoners through the U.S. Postal system. For more information, contact Danica Loucks '13, Danielle Orchant '14, and Kyra Babakian '14.

College Students for College

Provides support to high school students navigating the process of postsecondary planning. For more information, contact Caroline Blake '14. 

Colleges Against Cancer

Promotes cancer awareness and advocacy on campus and raises funds for the American Cancer Society through the Making Strides walk and the Relay for Life. For more information, contact Laurel Varnell '14 and Matt Mathias '14.

Falcon Friends

 Members mentor students at Bowdoinham Elementary School. For more information, contact Ruth Bodell '13, Michelle Johnson '15, and Will Horne '14.

FFLY Girls (Fostering Female Leadership in Youth)

Bowdoin women serve as mentors at Bath Middle School where they lead lessons and activities, organize field trips, and engage in one-on-one mentoring in order to folster female leadership, confidence, and community for young adolescent women.  For more information contact, Alexandra "Sasha" Davis '13, Zoe Eiber '13, and Michelle Wiener '14.

Food Forward

Volunteers deliver unused food from the Dining Service to Midcoast Hunger Prevention Program. For more information, contact Matthew Silton '13 and Dana Hopkins '14.

Habitat for Humanity

A campus extension of the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity, this group organizes campus-wide poverty awareness events, fundraisers, and "build" days. For more information, contact Jane Carpenter '13 and Chelsea Bruno '14.

Harpswell Community Mentoring

Members mentor students at Harpswell Community School through visual and performing arts. For more information, contact Andrew Klegman '13 and Leah Greenberg '13.

Kamerling Society

Volunteers increase chemistry and science awareness and appreciation, providing demonstrations to local students of all ages.  For more information, contact Salem Harry '14.

Let's Get Ready

Volunteers help expand college access for motivated, low-income high school students by providing free SAT pregaration and college admission counseling.  For more information, contact Emily Quirk '14 or visit the Let's Get Ready website.

Mt. Ararat High School Mentoring

Members mentor students at Mt. Ararat High School. For more information, contact Ellen Brennan '14, Michael Lachance '13, and Gabby Lubin '14.

Mt. Ararat Middle School Bike Club

Volunteers teach Mount Ararat Middle School students safe and effective bicycling techniques and promote bicycling for fun and good health by joining weekly bike rides with the students.  For more information, contact Adrienne Hanson '14.

Mt. Ararat Middle School Mentoring

Students work one-on-one as mentors to Mount Ararat Middle School students. For more information, contact Kurt Herzog '13 and Kassey Matoin '13.

Portland Adult Education

Volunteers assist with English literacy and job preparation programs for adults living in the Portland Metropolitan area. For more information, contact Robbie Harrison '14, Lucy Walker '14, and Rachel Sege '14 or visit the website for Portland Adult Education.

Portland Housing Authority Tutoring

Volunteers provide tutoring after school M-Th for mainly immigrant and refugee children in grades 7-12 at the Portland Housing Authority education center. For more information, contact Erin St. Peter '13 and James Henry '13.

Public Health Volunteers Club

For students with an interest in health careers - provides exposure to public health issues in the Greater Brunswick area.  For more information, contact Tracie Goldsmith '14, Marcus Karin '14, Priscila Laforet '14.

Red Cross Blood Drives

Students organize and recruit donors for four campus-wide Red Cross blood drives per year. For more information, contact Jimena Escudero ’13, Sarah Hirschfeld ’13, or Kerry Townsend '13.

SmART

Volunteers mentor students at Harpswell Community School through the arts. For more information, contact Halllie Carol '14 and Zina Huxley-Reicher '13.

Special Olympics

 

Students organize and recruit volunteers for the Special Olympics swim and track meet in the spring. For more information, contact Molly Paduda '14 and Sarah Freeman '15.

Sunnybrook Village Volunteers

Volunteers spend time with the residents of the Sunnybrook Village retirement and assisted-living community.  For more information, contact Caroline Bartlett '14, Zoe Karp '14, Kristen Stogsdill '13 or Eliza Warren-Shriner '13.

Taste for Change

Volunteers organize Taste for Change Dinners to benefit nonprofit organizations.

Tedford Housing Volunteers

Volunteers organize special events (such as birthday parties for children living in the family shelter) and help with general volunteer needs at Tedford Housing.  For more information, contact Gillian Hannon '13 and Caroline Moore '14.

Volunteer Lawyers Project

 

Members work with Pine Tree Legal Aid to provide legal options to callers below the poverty line. For more information, contact Amar Patel '13 and Melody Hahm '13 or visit the Volunteer Lawyers Project website.

Student Leadership

Each group in the Bowdoin Volunteer Corps is initiated and led by students.  Generally, these leaders have previously been volunteers with the BVC group or community organization.  Advised by the McKeen Center for the Common Good, group leaders take part in a leadership retreat at the beginning of the year to explore ways to more effectively run volunteer programs, manage student volunteers, and meet community needs. The BVC McKeen Fellows and McKeen Center staff also meet with organization leaders throughout the year to provide support in their work. 

If you're interested in starting your own student-run service group or would like more information on the BVC please contact the BVC McKeen Fellows for Community Engagement Alexandra "Sasha" Davis 13, aidavis@bowdoin.edu or Jordan Francke '13, jfrancke@bowdoin.edu.