This October marks five years since Webster University ended Webster Works Worldwide. In this event, the university paused classes for a day, allowing students, faculty and staff a day off dedicated to volunteering. Projects ranged from working at children’s centers to spreading wood chips in Webster Groves Southwest Park.
Webster Works Worldwide started in Oct. 1995 and ran until 2018, taking place 24 times in total. It was put on pause in 2019 due to faculty retirements and the eventual onset of the pandemic, according to university spokesperson Patrick Giblin.
Webster promotes “global citizenship” as one of its core values, and Webster Works Worldwide embodied that mission as it promoted volunteering and gave back to the community.
In a 2019 statement about the end of the event, Giblin told The Journal that the school created two task forces to improve Webster Works Worldwide and the availability of community service to Webster students. The pandemic struck soon after, and the community never saw the results of these task forces.
Since March 2020, university-organized community volunteering has been out of the picture. It became clear that the year-long hiatus was turning into a full desertion of the event.
Nearly four years later, it seems the university has no interest in restarting the event, but rather advocates for sub-community events instead of a schoolwide one.
“The University continues to encourage community service and volunteerism and this year announced that student organizations and departments, schools and colleges could organize their own day of community service this academic year,” Giblin said.
The loss of administrative organization means a lack of full community engagement that made Webster Works Worldwide so important. The event divided the university into teams, from which students could sign up for jobs that interested them. It’s not an easy task, and without university backing, it’s harder for student organizations to make the same impact.
Now, Webster focuses more on introducing fundraising events than reinstating community events like Webster Works Worldwide.
Nov. 1 was Webster’s second annual Gorloks Give Day—a day in which Webster requests donations from students, faculty and staff to aid in the fundraising for scholarships, the Gorlok emergency fund and more. This year 262 donors gave more than $36,000 in gifts to 20 different initiatives.
Fundraising is only an option for those with the financial freedom to participate. Efforts like Webster Works Worldwide allowed students to give back in a way that was within their abilities, regardless of financial constraints. Free volunteering events allow Webster to impact the community without costing them anything but time.
As the school grows closer to how it was pre-pandemic, hopefully, the university will reinstate programs for community outreach and once again give the students a chance to reach beyond the university.
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