National Public Health Week
As part of National Public Health Week, each April students organize, with support from faculty and staff, to conduct middle- and high-school education programs in Boston-area schools. BUSPH students speak with high school students about how public health is relevant to their everyday lives and how they can regard themselves as active participants in creating healthy communities. It is a great opportunity for BUSPH students to be able to get out in the community and practice what they have been learning in the classrooms.

Charity Walks
Together, faculty, stafff and students have raised thousands of dollars actively participating in charity walks. In the past three years BUSPH teams have adorned team t-shirts and participated in the Breast Cancer Walk; the AIDS Walk; the We Care Walk, to support the Boston Medical Center; thye Jingle Bell Run, to support the Bill Rodgers Foundation for Arthritis; the Tufts 10K for Women; the Walk for Hunger; and the Jimmy Fund Walk.

Collection Drives
Collection drives are conducted throughout the year to benefit a number of local charities. At the change of each season a clothing drive is conducted to benefit local homeless shelters such as Rosie's Place. A special drive is conducted each fall by the Health and Human Rights student caucus to gather cold-weather clothing for displaced refugees who find it difficult to adapt to the Boston winters. Also, food collection drives are held throughout the year for organizations that serve the homeless, such as the Pine Street Inn.

Meal Servings
On a monthly basis, faculty, staff, and students visit Rosie's Place, an organization that assists homeless women and their children, to help serve lunch. Students make a semiannual visit to Community Servings to help provide hot, home-delivered meals for people ill with AIDS, their dependents, and caregivers.

South End Community Health Center Initiative
An initial collaboration with the South End Community Health Center and volunteers from BUSPH involved developing a business plan for an enterprise being led by the Family Services Division of the South End Community Health Center. This project provided a venue for the South End Health Center staff and community experts to deliver health services and health outreach seminars. During this time the health center was completing construction of a new building. A neighborhood collective artisans and craftspeople were interested in leasing property in the building to open a coffee shop where they could also sell their products. Volunteers from BUSPH guided that group through the completion of a business plan, reviewed architectural renderings of the space, and assisted in procuring a bank commitment for a loan. The coffee shop/gift shop opened in the summer of 2000.

For further information about these and other volunteer opportunities, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .