When I was a freshman, there were several technical engineering organizations that I could join, but I had to go to other areas in the university to find a community service group. It was not until my sophomore year that one of my professors, Dr. Randa Shehab, put out a call for a group of students to resurrect an organization that worked closely with the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma in the past. I joined as an officer and after one volunteering session, I thought that as engineers there is more we can do to help our community. The next semester, I became president of the organization with the goals of promoting healthy growth and blending community service with technical aspects in order to make one club that could satisfy several needs.
As engineering students, many of us are constantly strapped for time; thus, the organizations we participate in are typically those where we can refine our skills. I believe Engineers Assisting Those In Need provides a place where students of all backgrounds, levels, and majors can come together to learn about continuous improvement while applying the valuable skills they are learning in the classrooms to help nonprofits serve more people.
To make this vision a reality, I focused on cultivating targeted volunteering sessions, where the volunteers would look for very specific sources of inefficiencies and identify/report areas needing improvement from a volunteer's perspective. It is vital for nonprofits to get this feedback because while a supervisor may know what steps need to happen, they may not understand what the volunteers think or see as they go through a shift. The goal is that every time we volunteer somewhere, we are able to provide feedback to the organization to allow their future volunteers to be even more efficient.
This tactic was great for people that were free over the weekends, however, we found so much more we could do to help our community that we launched project teams. These teams work on a continuous improvement project over several months to really apply their skills in a team environment. Each project was procured personally and is under close supervision to ensure the team is working effectively and that any roadblocks become a learning experience.
We have gained several new project partners over the past year allowing us to have six project teams finish their work by this summer (2018). These partners include Meals on Wheels, the OU Food Pantry, and Hope Retreat Ranch. For Meals on Wheels we researched the feasibility of implementing a grocery route in addition to the regular meals they are providing, an evaluation of their volunteer management software, and lastly the development of a program with the ability to optimize driving routes to ensure volunteers have a good experience and return. For the OU Food Pantry we coordinated an inventory day to record all of the items in the store as well as a layout redesign to optimize the items after the pantry received a new shelf. Lastly, for Hope Retreat Ranch we are designing playground equipment that we will build onsite during our first retreat this spring. Each project is designed and procured to add value to the organization and in the way that they need it. I am a certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and am pursuing my Black Belt this spring, which means I am specially equipped to identify, target, and eliminate waste. I intend on sharing a lot of this knowledge with the group’s members to keep us all continuously improving.
Overall, the organization has proven to be more successful this year than I could have ever imagined. We have had more than 100 people join our orgsync portal; we are now on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; we have had volunteering sessions with the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma as well as the Moore Food and Resource Center; we also added three new project partners; and we had six project teams. Our first service retreat is scheduled this month. All in one year!
I have one more year of being president of this organization, and I can’t wait to see how far we go. It is truly where engineering meets service, and I am so grateful for all of the opportunities we have had to serve others and for all the engineers that are getting involved in order to help make their community a better place. I believe community outreach is vital, and it is incredibly important to give back to our communities. I am truly blessed to be able to encourage more engineers to take a break from the textbooks and apply their valuable skills in such a special way.
