About 200 people were expected to take a community service "plunge," donating 700 volunteer hours-the equivalent of more than $11,000 of work-during the second annual COOL (Campus Outreach Opportunity League) City Cleveland community service summit last weekend at CWRU.

COOL City Cleveland, a group of college students from the Greater Cleveland area who work to strengthen their communities through service and activism, conducted this year's summit, "Together We Serve-Uniting Campuses to Make a Difference," in association with Ohio Campus Compact's statewide student conference and national "Make A Difference Day" activities. Ohio Campus Compact is s coalition of colleges and universities established to increase campus-wide participation in community and public service.

In addition to attending more than 30 workshops on social and service-related issues October 25 and 26, the summit participants-who came from as far away as Los Angeles and Seattle-took a service plunge on Make A Difference Day, helping to build a home for a local family with Habitat for Humanity and painting classrooms at an area middle school.

Make A Difference Day is a celebration of neighbors helping neighbors created by USA WEEKEND magazine. The annual event takes place on the fourth Saturday of every October. Each year, about 2 million people nationwide volunteer on that day, accomplishing thousands of projects in hundreds of towns and helping an estimated 25 million people.

Highlights of the COOL City Cleveland summit at CWRU included a lecture from Randall McShephard, who has worked as a strategic planning consultant for clients including the Cuyahoga County Department of Community and Economic Development and Neighborhood Progress Inc. McShephard has been selected as a 2002 American Marshall Memorial Fellow and as a member of the 2002-03 Leadership Cleveland class.

Julie Candela, executive director of the SPROUT program, a comprehensive residential program for single parents ages 18-23 and their children founded at Baldwin-Wallace College, also was a keynote speaker.

For more information on COOL City Cleveland, their upcoming activities and other volunteer opportunities, go to http://www.cool2serve.org or visit the CWRU Office of Student Community Service.