Students from the University at Albany�s freshman class volunteered to pick sweet corn for donation to the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York -- and thus became the newest link in a network of community service contributed by UAlbany students.

The students answered the call for volunteers within a week after the start of classes. They spent the afternoon at the Salisbury Farm in Altamont where they harvested donated crops.

The Regional Food Bank works to alleviate hunger by providing food to soup kitchens, food pantries, emergency shelters, senior programs and day care centers and more than 900 charitable agencies in 23 counties. And it�s one example of the organizations to which UAlbany students give their time and energy.

One longstanding campus initiative is the Community and Public Service Program which matches student volunteers with some 300 agencies, including such organizations as Headstart, Ronald McDonald House, the Association for Retarded Citizens and the Special Olympics. Students also contribute in countless other ways, ranging from local neighborhood clean-ups to the student-run Five Quad ambulance service and the University�s nationally recognized Middle Earth Peer Assistance Program. Last year alone more than 500 students devoted 50,000 hours to non-profit and public agencies in the Capital Region.