Johns Hopkins volunteers mobilize for annual President's Day of Service

Volunteers from Johns Hopkins University fanned out to more than 30 Baltimore-based service sites Saturday morning as part of the university's seventh annual President's Day of Service.

In the Remington neighborhood of Baltimore, dozens of volunteers gathered at the Remington Village Green community garden to plant seeds, prune shrubs, and paint signs to mark growing areas. In another corner of the city, volunteers—Johns Hopkins University President Ronald J. Daniels among them—collected trash in the backyards of vacant homes, a Peoples Homesteading project.

Nearly 700 JHU faculty, staff, students, and alumni met at Wyman Quad on the university's Homewood campus before going out to participate in service projects at local non-profit organizations and community centers.

"Over the past seven years, this event has grown in scope and purpose," said Daniels, who established the Day of Service when he took office in the fall of 2009. "It stands as a great example of the ways Hopkins is not simply in Baltimore, but of this city, and the ways in which our long-standing commitment to our communities have taken on a renewed urgency in the year since last spring's unrest."

This marked the first time President's Day of Service took place during the spring—the fall event, scheduled for October, was postponed due to rain.

The universitywide day of service is organized by the Center for Social Concern and funded by the Hopkins Parents Fund.