LCI@RU students volunteer at Radford's Beans and Rice

Daniel Doolittle (second from left), an AmeriCorps volunteer from Pulaski, Virginia, shows LCI@RU students how to set up the weekly food distribution site. The students (from right to left), Almandhar Al-Rawahi of Oman, Ahmed Khaled of Jordan, Abdulrhman Alalshaikh of Saudi Arabia, and Faisal Aljaber of Saudi Arabia, loaded the trailer with boxes of donated food.

Students at the Language and Culture Institute at Radford University volunteered recently with Beans and Rice Inc. The Radford nonprofit works to improve the economic well-being of low- to moderate-income families through hunger relief, afterschool programs that improve educational opportunity for at-risk children, job creation for low- to moderate-income families, and savings programs that help families buy their first home and children save for education.

The LCI@RU students helped set up the weekly food distribution center and distributed donated food. Read about their experiences below.

Radford students volunteer at Elf Shelf

For the second consecutive year, students, faculty, and staff from the Language and Culture Institute at Radford University donated their time at the Radford Elf Shelf store.

They assisted with setting up the store and arranging Christmas gifts donated by local residents. These presents will be given to low-income families in the area who need assistance with providing presents to their children.

"I believe these types of community service experiences are extremely beneficial to our international students," says Charlene Dandrow, associate director of the institute. "Through participation, our students learn a lot about American values and culture and how to better understand and appreciate diversity. By getting involved in activities that serve the public good and have a positive impact on the community, they gain a strong sense of social connectivity and responsibility as well as a sense of belonging and purpose."