Rebel Service Council gives back

March 2, 2009 by Grace Funcion 

Labor of Love service project helps Nevada’s communities

Labor of Love isn’t to be confused with a reality TV show, but it does deal with a different type of reality.  

On Feb. 21, a group of 10 students traveled to government land outside Mesquite where they picked up trash, furniture and debris from the desert in cooperation with Get Outdoors Nevada.  

Labor of Love is a community service effort aimed at volunteering around the Las Vegas community. They accept any willing individuals and offer free transportation to their destinations.  

Jacob Murdock, program coordinator for Service Programs expressed the value of the organization. 

“Labor of Love is a way for students to get out, be involved and learn about the community,” he said. 

“Most students assume the Nevada desert is a massive, barren land,” Murdock explained. “What they don’t realize are the consequences of trashing the environment, or the wildlife that gets affected by careless behavior.” 

Junior Nina Cervana said working in Mesquite was an eye opener. As an unfortunate example, recreational shooters happened to be littering the desert at the time of their cleanup.  

“There are people who shoot in the desert,” Cervana said. “And what I thought were just glass shards, ended up being mounds of glass shards.” 

“It took about two and half hours and we still weren’t finished. Someone ended up calling the police to tell [the shooters] to clean up after themselves.” 

Cervana is a two-year member of the Rebel Service Council. As a program assistant for Student Involvement and Activities, she said that volunteering used to be a part of her job, but is now a part of her life.  

Cervana said the council uses online social networks, such as Facebook and MySpace to spread news of available opportunities.  

Events coming up for the Rebel Service Council include the National Volunteer Week and subsequent Earth Week. Apart from providing the means to volunteer, the council also provides a handy service of logging hours for their members.  

“We have a pretty active membership,” Cervana said. “Some organizations don’t like to be overwhelmed by a bunch of students, but others, such as [Labor of Love’s] event, needed more than just 10 students to pick up trash.”