About 650 students from more than 80 groups on campus banded together Saturday to volunteer around Akron for Make a Difference Day.

This year was the ninth year for UA’s Make a Difference Day. According to an article on UA’s webpage, this has added up to 19,500 hours dedicated to service projects from 5,100 volunteers.

Along with the 650 students working around the Akron community, more than 50 students volunteered to help “in-house” with transportation, check-in and more.

“Anytime you can see over 700 students go out into the community and give their time … I say that is a huge success,” said Alison Doehring, chair of the Make a Difference Day committee and the coordinator of civic engagement within the Department of Student Life.

Doehring said that the number of groups that participated in the event was up from last year. Groups included organizations around campus, along with groups from dorm rooms and other UA offices.

While the final numbers for this year are not in yet, Doehring said the group of students and staff donated more than 1,600 hours of their time, equaling more than $12,500 worth of minimum-wage work.

“Our students all had varied experiences at the 35 different non-profits and 60 service projects sites, and so far their feedback has been nothing but positive,” she said.

For students who are interested in attending next year, the committee posts information to the their website during the summer at uakron.edu/mdd. Other service projects can be found at uakron.edu/studentlife/serve.