Panther Service Day
We need YOU to help make Panther Service Day a success! We will be sending over 200 Panthers out into the community to help complete 2-hour service projects for local non-profits like Ashmore Community, Douglas Hart Nature Preserve, and Hazel Anne Farms!! Help us make our community stronger! Register by April 10 to guarantee yourself a spot!
This annual day of volunteering and service began in 2003 when EIU Student Government initiated an effort to improve the relationship between EIU students and the citizens of Charleston through the encouragement of acts of volunteerism and service in the community.
2026 Panther Service Day Details
Date: Friday, April 17 from 2-4pm and Saturday, April 18 from 10am-12pm
Registration will open Monday, March 30
Sign up as an individual
Sign up as an RSO/Group
Panther Service Day Volunteer Options
Friday Sites
- Ashmore Community: Ashmore is a small and rural community located just east of Charleston. Although small, Ashmore is full of hardworking, community focused people. You will be working outside helping get ready for spring by helping with garden clean up at the Serenity Park, Community Center, and South Park!
- Hazel Anne Farm: is a local farm that helps support organizations dealing with hunger, and food insecurity, which is why we like to help them out when we can! Volunteers will be spreading mulch and prepping for the summer growing season. Closed-toed shoes and work/winter gloves are strongly recommended!
- Grand Prairie Friends: Grand Prairie Friends is working to restore bat habitat on our property by planting native trees. To give our baby trees the best chance of success, we need to remove the less desirable trees that grow easily in our plantings. Join us for a morning in the sun while clipping growing saplings and helping to conserve beautiful Illinois nature! No experience necessary. Long pants and closed toed shoes required.
- Douglas Hart Nature Center: Volunteers are invited to join Douglas Hart in helping the Earth. You will digging woodland wildflower transplants for our upcoming plant sale. We recommend wearing long pants and closed-toed shoes as pending good weather, you will be working outdoors.
- 5 Mile House: Removing dead foliage from the butterfly garden, spreading mulch around the trees and garden paths, doing spring cleaning in the historic house and the barn, picking up the ever-present sticks from the lawn.
- Salvation Army: Volunteers will be helping with a variety of projects including: working in the thrift store (hanging clothes, cleaning, tagging, stocking shelves), helping in the food pantry (stocking shelves, rotating stock, cleaning), and outside helping with yardwork and spring clean up of the grounds.
- Jefferson Elementary Courtyard Garden: During the past 5 years, volunteers have been assisting staff of the Jefferson Elementary School courtyard garden to strengthen a set of outdoor learning resources. This site provides hands-on learning activities for garden club participants and complements many classroom lessons. EIU volunteers are invited to help finish the installation of 14 raised beds, prep the site for Spring & Summer season programs, and spread a new layer of mulch over an assembly area. Volunteers are encouraged to wear sturdy shoes and appropriate clothes for working in a garden.
Saturday Sites
- Fit-2-Serve: Students will be clearing garden beds of cover crop. They would also be prepping beds ( adding compost and preparing for planting). We will also be weeding beds and possibly planting in the garden beds depending on weather. Tennis shoes and dirty clothes recommended.
- Embarras Volunteer Stewards: We will be doing our regular invasive plant species control at Lakeview Park - lopping and spraying honeysuckle, autumn olive, winged wahoo, etc. Volunteers should wear old clothes (preferably denim, cotton, wool or blends with these - nylon especially will snag and tear on branches and briars). Leather boots or old shoes that are sturdy and they don't mind getting dirty. Ball caps are good for deflecting branches also. If they have them, leather gloves, but I have several I can provide.
- 5 Mile House: Removing dead foliage from the butterfly garden, spreading mulch around the trees and garden paths, doing spring cleaning in the historic house and the barn, picking up the ever-present sticks from the lawn.
- Salvation Army: Volunteers will be helping with a variety of projects including: working in the thrift store (hanging clothes, cleaning, tagging, stocking shelves), helping in the food pantry (stocking shelves, rotating stock, cleaning), and outside helping with yardwork and spring clean up of the grounds.
- Master Gardeners: U of I Extension Master Gardeners invite EIU volunteers to help prepare the Plant-A-Row Garden at the Sarah Bush Lincoln Hospital for another vegetable planting season. In April 2025, EIU student volunteers assisted with rebuilding the garden site which enabled over 1300 pounds of fresh produce to be donated to area distribution programs that serve families with food insecurity. Volunteers are encouraged to dress for working in a garden with sturdy, closed-toe shoes, and gloves if available.
