Student volunteer organizations highlight LCS' impact before 60th anniversary celebration

In 1958, a handful of Tufts students under the then-small organization, Leonard Carmichael Society (LCS), volunteered at the Metropolitan State Hospital in Waltham, Mass. Sixty years later, LCS now has more than 1,000 student volunteers, spread across more than 30 different groups, who amassed a total of 24,000 service hours in the 2017–18 academic year mentoring children, teaching health education, walking dogs and more.

LCS will be celebrating its impact in both the Tufts and local communities at its anniversary event, “LCS Presents: 60 Years of Service,” on Saturday. The event will serve as a fundraiser with the primary goal of allowing LCS to buy a new van in order to transport volunteering students to service sites.

Groups within LCS include: Peer Health Exchange, which trains college students to teach health education in nearby public schools; Animal Aid, which facilitates dog-walking opportunities in the neighborhoods surrounding Tufts; and DREAM, which provides programming and mentoring to children in subsidized housing, according to the LCS website.

LCS co-President Emily Chen said that LCS connects student volunteers in the Tufts community with the cities of Medford and Somerville.

“By providing our time, commitment and services without charge, we try to help out the greater community in the best way possible,” Chen, a senior, said. “LCS is a great way for people to get in touch with the surrounding communities.”

Peer Health Exchange co-Coordinator Bennett Fleming-Wood said her club’s mission is to help surrounding communities by empowering young people with knowledge, skills and resources to make healthy decisions.

“We are able to provide a holistic, skills-based form of health education, which increases equity, and both students and educators get a lot out of it,” Fleming-Wood, a sophomore, said. "Tufts volunteers, no matter their health education background, learn both the information they are teaching as well as how to be in a classroom and convey the material to groups with wide ranges of prior knowledge."

Peer Health Exchange is in the process of implementing various inclusivity initiatives so that it will have resources readily available for marginalized groups.

“This year, we are ... working on centering POC students in the classroom,” Fleming-Wood said. “If we are centering ... marginalized students and their voices, everyone will benefit from that.”

As Peer Health Exchange and its 80 members strive to provide the highest quality teaching and service, the group appreciates the funding and support it receives from LCS, Fleming-Wood noted.

According to Fleming-Wood, Peer Health Exchange will adopt a relationship-focused teaching model this year, in which a few educators will work with the same classroom every week, increasing the regularity of volunteer schedules. Due to this shift, the group will rely more heavily on LCS vans for transportation.

Chen said that DREAM, another group under LCS' umbrella, also needs a van to reach the underprivileged communities to which it provides programming and opportunities.

“The LCS van is really helpful because we have a few mentees who have moved out of the housing community, so we have to drive to pick them up every Friday,” DREAM co-Chair Rachel Klein said. “When the van breaks down, it is really stressful for us because we cannot pick up the kids and they do not get to be a part of the programming that week.”

DREAM seeks to show children living in subsidized housing that there are people who believe in them and that if they work hard, they will have opportunities to attend college. The 25 Tufts mentors create fun, meaningful programs for the kids, including discussions about self-confidence and body positivity, scavenger hunts, going to the New England Aquarium and learning about healthy eating, Klein explained.

“DREAM helps the mentors understand what is present outside of the Tufts bubble,” Klein, a junior, said. “The housing community is 10 minutes away, and I do not think that a lot of Tufts students realize that right outside of our bubble of wealth and privilege, there are people who are struggling with poverty — and a lot of them are children.”

LCS' impact spreads far and wide, from blood drives to dog walking and animal therapy, Animal Aid co-Coordinator Ella Taubenfeld said.

Animal Aid provides dog owners in the Medford and Somerville communities with dog-walking services, typically serving for 160 hours each week.

“It’s a win-win situation,” Taubenfeld, a senior, said. “These dogs are getting walked for free by students who love dogs and miss their pets at home. It’s animal therapy for the student and a free service for the community.”

Taubenfeld's fellow co-coordinator, Nora Maetzener, explained that the program's dogs serve as links between Tufts students and individuals in the community.

Although Animal Aid does not rely on an LCS van, Maetzener, a junior, said that the organization supports her group by sharing contacts and suggestions to help plan events.

While LCS supports the surrounding community through its more than 30 subgroups, it also directly impacts local causes with donations collected from fundraisers. LCS organizes a fundraiser every semester, with the spring edition dedicated to the Somerville Homeless Coalition.

Chen said the 60th anniversary event will mark the first time that LCS is fundraising for itself in her four years with the organization. The event will include a silent auction, a showcase of the work done by LCS and entertainment from various Tufts groups.

Chen said that the anniversary event will also be a way for current LCS members to connect with the organization's alumni.

“It will be nice to meet alumni and hear about their experiences and how LCS impacted them,” Chen said.

Despite the focus on LCS' past, Chen noted that she is optimistic about its future and continued impact on local communities.

“It’s nice to know that LCS will be growing and continuing for more than 60 years after this event,” Chen said.

Fleming-Wood hopes that LCS will continue to empower students to interact with the community outside the Tufts 'bubble.'

“Community service is a two way street," Fleming-Wood said. "We are doing need-based service and getting so much out of that."