When Claire Scharenberg arrived as a freshman last year at Kansas University, she was intimidated.

“I was nervous coming to KU in the first place because it is such a big university,” she said. “I didn’t have a community like I did in high school.”

Scharenberg said she wanted to get involved in university activities to help her meet new people and find her place at KU. She tried several organizations before she stumbled onto the Center for Community Outreach.

Student Senate established the center in 1990 as a link between socially conscious students and volunteer opportunities within the KU and Lawrence communities. It now pairs 7,000 to 10,000 students with volunteer work each year. Last year the center registered 31,151 volunteer hours, which is more than one hour for each student enrolled at all KU campuses.

The center has opportunities that would interest many students on campus, said Mark Lyda, who will be a co-coordinator at the center in 2004-2005. It sponsors more than a dozen projects throughout the year. Volunteers work for causes including the arts, homelessness, human rights, the environment and health care. In the process, they touch the lives of community members from elementary school students to the elderly.

“CCO is very valuable to the people for whom we volunteer,” Lyda said. “But it’s also valuable to the volunteers themselves. It’s a very rewarding experience because you feel like you are doing something good with your time and make friends with people who have the same interests that you have. You can find your niche within the university.”

Scharenberg said she found her niche in Concerned, Active and Aware Students, one of the programs the center maintains. It promotes social change with activities such as a forum on the death penalty or the Trick-or-Treat So Others Can Eat campaign, which sent students door-to-door on Halloween to collect canned goods.

She said the organization introduced her to new causes and people and also helped her get used to the university as a whole.

“As a freshman I got to meet people older than me who could help me, not only in CCO, but on campus,” she said.

Lyda said the program is good for freshmen because scheduling is flexible. Participants can donate as much time as they want, when they want to donate it.

He said the group actively seeks freshmen with information booths at orientation and during Hawk Week, the week before classes begin.

The group is planning a group service project from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Aug. 21.

Scharenberg and Lyda said the best way to get involved was to stop by the center’s office in Room 405 of the Kansas Union, where students have office hours to greet interested volunteers and introduce them to the organization.