Hands-On Programs

It is the mission and purpose of Cause for Paws to advocate for the dignity of animals, raise community awareness of animal injustices, and inspire action that goes beyond the Saint Michael’s community.

Cause for Paws’ main focus is to promote animal awareness, and to support local shelters and non-profits. We currently partner with Champlain Adaptive Mounted Program (CHAMP), a local therapeutic horse riding center, and with Franklin County Animal Rescue, caring for the animals there.

Student Leader Contacts: Julia Canty ’27 (jcanty2@mail.smcvt.edu); Kyleena Lathram ’27 (klathram@mail.smcvt.edu)

FEED’s mission and purpose is to work towards food security, a Catholic Social Teaching, through partnering with local organizations that pursue food sustainability. The pillars of FEED’s mission include: food, environment, education, and dignity. With our various partners, we participate in service that ranges from grocery shopping for elders to volunteering at food shelves with a current focus on partnering with Age Well.

Through reflections, forums, fasts, and participation in National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, we aim to educate our campus on the local impacts of food sovereignty*, food deserts*, and food security.

* Food Sovereignty: the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate, sustainable food.
*Food Deserts: areas in which healthy and good quality foods are unaffordable and inaccessible to many people.

Student Leader Contacts: Miranda Davis ’25 (mdavis5@mail.smcvt.edu)

Special Events encompasses numerous and varying service opportunities, with the mission and purpose of supporting campus wide initiatives that have large, sweeping impacts on the community. The Special Events program coordinates on-campus blood drives with the American Red Cross, participates in a local benefit to support COTS (Committee on Temporary Shelter), and holds a fall and spring Serve-A-Thon. Special Events might be best known for hosting SMC’s First Year Apple Picking in the fall. Volunteers can help in a wide variety of ways. Below are descriptions of each of the program’s events.

First Year Apple Picking
At the beginning of the fall semester, Special Events coordinates a day of apple picking for new students to campus. On the first Saturday after classes start, new students sign up to pick apples at a local orchard and then donate the apples to local food shelves including the Vermont Food Bank. This is a great opportunity to meet fellow first-year students as well as provide fresh produce to community members in need and support food security in our community.

American Red Cross Blood Drives
Special Events organizes blood drives each year, one in the fall and one in the spring semester. The drives are all day events that offer multiple volunteer opportunities. Blood donors are always needed and appreciated by the American Red Cross. If students do not wish or are not able to donate, volunteers are also needed as donor aids, to help work the registration table, or work at the canteen station.

Serve-a-thon
These annual fall and spring semester events offer Saint Michael’s College students the opportunity to come together and dedicate a day to service. Students are split into groups for different service projects at local non-profits.

COTS Walk
Every May the St. Michael’s College community volunteers for the COTS walk as part of raising funds for our partner organization, COTS. It is a final chance for students to volunteer their time before the school year is over. SMC Community Members are asked to either raise money for the COTS organization or attend the event and show their support by walking in this annual walk.

Student Leader Contacts: Alexandra Baez-Rentas ’25 (abaezrentas@mail.smcvt.edu); Wren Seccareccia ’27 (wseccareccia@mail.smcvt.edu); Elle Cox ’27 (ecox@mail.smcvt.edu); Abigail Gyurko ’27 (agyurko@mail.smcvt.edu)

The mission and purpose of SMC Habitat for Humanity is to support Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity, which believes that everyone, everywhere, should have a healthy, affordable place to call home.

SMC students who volunteer with Habitat for Humanity program cover a broad range of building and restoration projects in our community. The program works with local individuals in need of assistance with various projects, at all stages of completion. This includes painting, gardening, and reconstruction. We participate in Habitat “builds” throughout the year and work in Habitat’s ReStore weekly.

Saint Michael’s Habitat for Humanity partners with Vermont’s Green Mountain Chapter of Habitat for Humanity on building projects and assisting in the ReStore, a nonprofit home improvement thrift store whose proceeds help local build projects.

Student Leader Contact: Laela Moran ’27 (lmoran@mail.smcvt.edu); Kayla Stern ’27 (kstern@mail.smcvt.edu)

The mission and purpose of Outdoor Volunteer Efforts is to inspire the SMC community to appreciate and respect the natural environment through participation in service work and learning.

Outdoor Volunteer Efforts (OVE) is about getting your hands dirty; OVE gives students the opportunity to work in our own SMC Farm or team up with local organizations focused on helping us conserve and interact with our natural environment.

MOVE has a partnership with the Saint Michael’s Institute for the Environment, working on the campus Farm and Natural Area, as well as the New Community project based in Starksboro, VT expanding volunteer opportunities across campus and beyond for the benefit of our shared land and community.

Student Leader Contacts: Kerri McCann ’26 (kmccann@mail.smcvt.edu); Sarah Coloney ’26 (scoloney@mail.smcvt.edu)