About The GIVE Center
Our Mission
The GIVE Center serves to engage individuals in experiences which not only "prepare a student for a career but for life as a citizen;" we will achieve this by inspiring individuals, One at a Time, to leave their legacy through volunteerism, leadership and collaboration. (quote taken from Frank Newman)
Our History
The GIVE Center was started in the fall of 1997, by Kendall M. Stiles with the help of a student, Ms. Kate Van Cantfort. These two ladies recognized the desire of many Georgia College students to volunteer in their community, and it was for this reason that they created The GIVE Center. When it began, in the fall of 1997, The GIVE Center did not actually have a center. It did not even an office. The GIVE Center was started out of one single red basket. In the fall of 2001, out of that red basket, The GIVE Center had grown into an actual center with several offices and over 15 student coordinated programs. This move proved to be a vital point in the center's history, and during the next four years the center would grow to over 50 student-coordinated programs.
Kendall, as the director, solely operated the center until its ninth year when Paul F. Sedor II was hired as the center's first Assistant Director in the fall of 2005. Paul, a 2005 Georgia College graduate, assisted The GIVE Center in utilizing new forms of technology which helped the center to better serve their students and agencies. In addition to this, the center developed a stronger collaboration with the Community Action Team for Service (CATS) which has created additional volunteer opportunities for our campus. Through this collaboration, our students were able to benefit from shared resources and bridge the gap between Student Affairs and Academic Affairs.
The addition of Paul and the collaboration with CATS has helped take The GIVE Center to the next level, enabling Georgia College to offer over 90 student coordinated programs and serving over 3,000 student volunteers. Through more personal contact with individual volunteers and organizations, The GIVE Center was able to track over 25,000 certified volunteer hours during the 2005-2006 academic year.
