Volunteers from the Columbia student body, faculty and staff and surrounding community will gather on Saturday, March 31, to clean parks, renovate buildings, repaint school classrooms and work at other projects in Upper Manhattan during the fourth annual Columbia Community Outreach (CCO), a student-organized event. Volunteers can register now.

The day-long project unites the campus in the spirit of community service and promotes awareness for the many year-round service programs and initiatives that draw students and other Columbia-affiliates into the surrounding community.

The opening ceremony begins at 10 a.m. at the Low Library steps (116th Street and Broadway) with remarks by U.S. Representative Charles Rangel, followed by an address by the keynote speaker Evan Davis, president of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and clerk of the Trustees of Columbia University.

For the past three years, CCO, a grassroots, student-led effort to revitalize and strengthen community service initiatives, has rallied together more than 1,000 volunteers each year. Columbia President George Rupp, university administrators, professors and interested members from communities surrounding Columbia work side-by-side with students from the Korean Students Association, the Black Student Organization, the Coalition of Latino Organizations, the Columbia Student Councils, fraternities and sororities, Community Impact and other groups. The goal is to build community while giving back to the community.

This year participants will volunteer for projects at more than 35 sites, including:

• Gardening and clean-up of Morningside, Riverside, Marcus Garvey, Inwood and other neighborhood parks.
• Painting and repairs at local women's shelters, and the Central Harlem Sobering Up Squad.
• Assisting soup kitchen staff.
• Gardening for Broadway Malls, Harlem School of the Arts and others.
• Distributing information on free/low cost health insurance programs.
• Cataloguing books donated by the Columbia community to P.S. 125.

Participants will receive a free tee-shirt and food courtesy of Columbia Community Outreach.