The PEACE Organization

The University of Tampa’s main volunteer organization is known as the PEACE Volunteer Center. PEACE stands for People Exploring Active Community Experiences which is available to not only UT students, but faculty and staff as well. Sophomore and environmental science major, Abbey Ray, says about PEACE, “The activities that PEACE provides for students are convenient and enriching, but above all the events leave each person feeling like they've really made a difference.” One event that has taken place this year is the annual “Into the Streets” day of service that incoming freshmen take part in during August. The other annual event that took place in January was the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service.


Mari Mersch, a UT student and Big Brothers Big Sisters coordinator is also working on an upcoming event, “I am hosting a Locks of Love event next month on March 19 from 12-4 p.m. that I am looking forward to. Stylists from Tribeca Salon will be coming to UT to give free haircuts to students who are donating eight inches or more to the Locks of Love Foundation,” Mersch continues, “I get to show students that volunteer work is not all about picking up trash on the side of the road and it doesn't have to be a horrible experience. Volunteering is whatever you make it.” Mersch is very proud of the work she has accomplished with PEACE

The University of Tampa’s very own AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) sponsor, Karen Lederer, is also regarded highly in the PEACE office. AmeriCorps is a domestic peace corps which is designed to fight poverty and homelessness. Lederer, a college graduate, is living on the brink of poverty for the next year and volunteering her time on the UT campus working on events and providing opportunities for UT students to get involved in giving their time along.“Working for AmeriCorps VISTA gives you an opportunity to do things you don’t think you would have done. It makes you grow,” Says Lederer.

PEACE also provide alternative break and weekend trip programs. Sophomore, Heather Ptak, is involved with coordinating trips in which students apply to volunteer their time to various places outside of the Tampa area. The first of two different alternative spring break trips is to Key West, which entails students kayaking alone the Florida shoreline while cleaning up litter. The second alternative break is to Franklin, Tennessee to the Kindred Spirits Therapeutic Riding Center, which aids terminally ill and battered children through therapeutic horseback riding. Ptak remarks, “I am looking forward to the weekend trip to Gainsville because I played a major part in coordinated it.” The weekend trip Ptak coordinated is February 19 through February 21 which takes place in a jungle primary where students will be able to interact with animals such as monkeys and focus on the environment and sustainability. Another trip coming up includes going to Peru to teach English to orphans after the spring semester in May which Ptak also looks forward to. To contact the PEACE office for more information on upcoming events, visit Vaughn Center, Room 206 or email peace@ut.edu.