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Release: 00-289

Marshall Center employees to volunteer at local agencies during Community Service Days

Employees of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., are dressing down to gear up as volunteers at local non-profit organizations during the Center’s sixth annual Community Service Days Oct. 10-13 and Oct. 16-20.

"This year’s event has been expanded from one day to two weeks, to allow opportunities for more employees to participate," said Rachel Kamenetzky, Marshall’s co-chair for Community Service Days. "We’ve also expanded the number of agencies where Marshall Center volunteers can work, to broaden our scope of giving back to the community."

This year, work by Marshall volunteers will range from reading to children to helping build a house for a low-income family. Volunteer work also will include building and painting wheelchair ramps, visiting hospitalized cancer patients, planting a garden, and tutoring youngsters.

Agencies benefiting from Marshall’s Community Service Days are the Girl Scouts of North Alabama; United Cerebral Palsy; Boys and Girls Club; Harris Home for Children; Huntsville Hospital Foundation; Care Assurance System for the Aging and Homebound (CASA); Habitat for Humanity; Christmas Charities; and Girls Inc.

Community Service Days has been expanded to include the area’s entire federal community, so different government agencies, such as the Army, will work with other non-profit organizations.

Community Service Days coincide with the annual Combined Federal Campaign fund drive, as a way for federal employees and on-site contractors to learn more about how different agencies serve the community year-round. The campaign, themed "Care Enough to Share Enough," began Oct. 5. Marshall’s goal is to raise $435,000.