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At the Marblehead Animal Shelter Friday, incoming Salem State University student Ashley Turcois traded the usual first-week routine for a paintbrush. Nearby, Dariia Solomin and Christine DePalma assembled a cat tree, and Turcois stopped long enough to bump a fist against the paw of Myrtle, one of the shelter’s cats.
The work was part of Salem State’s 11th annual First Year Day of Service, which sent 165 incoming first-year students to 22 projects across Salem, Lynn, Peabody, Beverly, Danvers and Marblehead on Aug. 28. The annual program is held the Friday before convocation, giving students an opportunity to move onto campus early and volunteer before classes begin.
SSU expanded the Day of Service from five communities to six this year. Students began with breakfast and a welcome gathering on the Salem State campus before boarding buses for their assignments around the North Shore.
In Marblehead, students painted, cleaned and organized at the animal shelter, which Salem State described as newly established. The work included freshening walls, assembling equipment for cats and helping with the routine jobs that keep the volunteer-run shelter operating.
Sharman Pollender, a volunteer who helps manage the shelter, said the organization welcomed both the labor and the attention from a neighboring university.
“We are incredibly grateful that they want to make the shelter a welcoming and comfortable space for the people we serve,” Pollender said. “We are a true no-kill shelter built on volunteers, so any and all help is greatly appreciated.”
Across the North Shore
The Marblehead assignment was one piece of a wider day of work. In Salem, students assembled mental health support boxes for Mental Makeover, volunteered at Lifebridge North Shore and organized supplies at NAGLY and the Sarah Parker Remond School. In Lynn, groups helped Girls Inc., prepared Head Start classrooms for Leo Inc. and assisted lunch operations at My Brother’s Table.
Other students cleaned and painted an animal shelter in Peabody, worked at Newhall Fields Community Farm, organized Citizens Inn family shelters, packed snack bags at Beverly Bootstraps and helped with an end-of-summer barbecue at Northeast Arc in Danvers.
Before the buses left campus, Keenan told the students their 22 assignments addressed 14 community issues.
“That is impact, leadership, and what it means to be a Viking,” Keenan said.
In Marblehead, that began with paint, cleaning supplies, a partly assembled cat tree and Myrtle’s extended paw.
