Thudding pots, spurting water and cheerful patrons orchestrate a chorus that permeates throughout Jubilee Cafe.

Wielding a mop in one hand, volunteers like Carolyn Tharp said it’s the light and cheerful atmosphere that kept her coming back to Jubilee Cafe.

“It never feels like I’m working,” said Tharp, a sophomore at Kansas University. “I really like serving because I can talk and eat with so many different people who come from so many different places with such amazing stories.”

Kaelyn Fox, a KU senior from Pittsburg, is co-director at Center for Community Outreach. More than 7,000 KU students volunteered through the program last year.

Tharp heard about Jubilee Cafe, 946 Vt., from a Center for Community Outreach table in the Kansas Union. Last year, more than 7,000 Kansas University students volunteered in connection with Center for Community Outreach.

The center serves as a clearinghouse for student volunteers who work in the Lawrence community. It features 14 programs that pair students with the elderly, adolescents and children in an effort to create a sense of community the center hopes will last throughout a KU students’ lifetime.

“It’s very important to us for them to have these lifelong links to their community,” said Kaelyn Fox, Center for Community Outreach co-director. “There’s a lot of reflection to take what students learn during the week and use it throughout their life or semester or just their time at KU.”

Community outreach programs range from a one-time commitment to a daily or weekly commitment and showcase nearly every issue that students work on. Of the 14 programs, two aim at protecting, preserving and repairing the Earth. Grow, one of the programs, pairs volunteers with Boys and Girls Club members to care for small community gardens. Center for Community Outreach is their main source of volunteers for most volunteer programs in Lawrence.

“I’d say like 98 percent of our volunteers come from CCO,” said the Rev. Joe Alford, director of Jubilee Cafe and chaplain of the Canterbury House, 1116 La.

Alford said that the idea for a cafe began about 10 years ago. He had volunteers who wanted to lend more of their time and have a project operated by themselves. The Jubilee Cafe began in 1994 and a year later Center for Community Outreach helped staff it.

To learn more about the Center for Community Outreach, go to www.ku.edu/~cco

Fox said this has become one of the organization’s main responsibilities.

“Companies who are staffing big events where agencies wouldn’t know how to find all these volunteers can call us up,” Fox said. “That’s really where CCO helps the community.”

The center is run by students. About one-third of its budget comes from Student Senate, which gets its money from student fees. The rest of the funds come from private donors, local companies or grants.

To operate, the program seeks a number of office volunteers. There are two paid co-directors and about 30 volunteer staff members.

Students or community members interested in volunteering can contact the Center for Community Outreach by calling 864-4073.