Yale Day of Service kicks off its second decade of community service, giving back, and empowering alumni to make a difference on Saturday, May 11. And now you can sign up to be part of this global event.

Registration is open for the 11th Yale Day of Service. The official Day of Service will be celebrated on May 11, but some events have already taken place and many more will continue well into the spring.

“Yale Day of Service is truly a celebration of service,” said Weili Cheng ’77, executive director of the Yale Alumni Association, which administers Yale Day of Service. “It’s not about when you give back or how you make a difference. It’s about working together with fellow Yalies, family, and friends to serve those in need and make a positive impact in your local community.”

Since its inception, Yale Day of Service has featured more than 2,000 registered events and drawn more than 30,000 registered volunteers. In 2018 alone, it activated at 273 service sites in 48 states and 21 countries, drawing more than 3,500 volunteers. Ninety-four percent of those involved felt they made a real difference in the communities they served.

Many of those volunteers remain involved in their projects long after Day of Service. In fact, Day of Service boasts an impressive string of success stories, with service sites that began as single projects on a single day developing into years-long endeavors connecting Yale alumni volunteers and local interests.

It is also a community effort. Day of Service alumni co-chairs Elvira Duran ‘05 and Matt Meade ‘87 work with a team of regional coordinators to create service opportunities for fellow alumni, family, and friends. And each year, they are joined not just by alumni around the world, but also members of the university community.

A number of Yale’s professional schools have made on-site service projects an annual tradition. And in 2018, individual volunteers included President Peter Salovey ’86 PhD and professional school deans Indy Burke (Forestry and Environmental Studies), Ann Kurth ’90 MSN (Nursing), and Sten Vermund (Public Health), with.

For 2019, Day of Service has already added three new local partners: the Yale Police Department, WorkLife Yale, and the United Way of Greater New Haven.

Visit the Yale Day of Service website to see how you can participate, either as a volunteer or by organizing and registering a service site in your community.