One of the most simple and underrated ways of
helping the world has always been community service. Students, or any
citizens get organized, or join a pre-existing community service
organization and help out either people or places in need. Recently
President Barack Obama has stressed the importance of community service
by pushing for a mandatory fifty hours of community service a year
served by all middle and high school students, and going so far as
proposing a four thousand dollar tax credit for anyone who clocks in a
hundred or more hours of service in a year.

At Tufts University,
students have been making a difference now for over half a century.
Through the Leonard Carmichael Society, students have been organized
and pushing for a better community since it's founding in 1956.
According to Suzanne Miller of Public Relations at Tufts University,
the Leonard Carmichael Society (LCS) first gained formal recognition in
1958 when students began volunteering at a local mental hospital.

The
LCS has gone through decades of growth and decline, but it now running
strong with sixty organizers and over one thousand student volunteers
in thirty different programs. That is to say, one in five
undergraduates at Tufts University is a member of the LCS and are
helping to make a difference in its own and surrounding communities.
Terri Harding, a student at Tufts and member of the LCS stated "One of
our biggest achievements is helping the Somerville Homeless Coalition
start in the mid-1980s, and today they are still one of our most
important community partners."

According to the LCS website, the
organization is split up into over thirty programs addressing five
major issues. These 36 programs include groups that are interested in
such things as issues of hunger and homelessness, mentoring youths,
literacy and education, health issues, and programs addressing special
interest groups. According to Miller, The LCS hosts events like the
annual 'Faculty-Waits-On-You-And-Auction' dinner and fundraiser, as
well as a 'Kids Day' which features a carnival for elementary school
students in the area.

The LCS exhibits a strong sense of
community activism and service that all members of a given community
should have. Their leadership in the volunteerism side of things is a
lesson worth following and participating in. With so many cuts
happening in local and federal government spending because of the
historical and harsh recession the United States in the midst of, so
many of the pivotal programs that help those who need it most are
rapidly declining. The LCS is a strong example of a grassroots attempt
to improve the standards of living, one that all members of communities
like Somerville should follow in the footsteps of.

For any more
information on this organization, or to stay informed of their events
and programs, visit their website at
http://ase.tufts.edu/lcs/index.asp.