Brienne Casey '08

- Student; On Campus

 

Everyone is the volunteer type.

 

 

Junior Brienne Casey recalls being struck by two things when visiting her grandmother at a nursing home: the helpfulness of volunteers and the number of residents who never had visitors.

Casey’s grandmother passed away when she was a freshman, but her nursing home visits haven’t stopped. Today she joins other SNHU students and staff for birthday and holiday visits with residents of the local nursing home.

While she enjoys those visits, Casey, an elementary education major from Billerica, Mass., most enjoys service activities that involve children.  

“I love to help kids. I love to be where kids are,” she said.

She branched out during an alternative break trip to Pass Christian, Miss., arranged by the university’s service office last spring. There she and other students helped out at an animal shelter that had been devastated by the 2005 hurricanes.

“I’d never had the opportunity to work with animals before,” she said. “Even the dogs know how to say thank you.”

As a coordinator of alternative break trips in the university’s Center for Service & Citizenship, she encourages other students to skip a trip to the beach in favor of something more rewarding.

“Everyone is the volunteer type,” she said. “It’s like a bug. You have to catch it. Everyone should try it once.”