Home for the summer? Want to spend your days demolishing buildings, painting murals, planting community gardens or working with elementary school students? Then Summer in the City might be the thing for you.

Summer in the City, or SITC as it is lovingly called, is a non-profit organization that aims to change the way young people volunteer. Every Tuesday through Friday, beginning June 17, SITC sends volunteers all over the city to work on fun and engaging community service projects. 

Ben Falik, one of the co-founders of SITC, says “there is a lot of great stuff going on in Detroit that doesn’t make the news.” The goal of SITC is to “improve and expand community service in metropolitan Detroit and build regionalism by bringing a diverse group of young people together to invest their energy in their central city,” Falick says.

SITC aims to make volunteerism in Detroit fun, flexible, and fulfilling. 

SITC began in 2002, when Falik and his co-founders, Michael Goldberg and Neil Greenberg, came home from college for the summer looking for something they could do in their community. They wanted to create an organization that would make volunteerism “work better for us and better for the organizations involved,” Falik says.

In 2002, SITC had one carpool site and approximately 12 volunteers each day. This year the organization has grown to seven carpool sites, and they anticipate close to 120 volunteers each day.

One of the great things about SITC is that the work is truly meaningful. SITC partners with various schools and non-profit organizations all over the city to participate in volunteer projects where “we are working with folks in the community to make sure our work is sustainable,” Falik explains. 

One of the cool projects going on this summer is a partnership with Dixon school, where three days a week volunteers can split their time tutoring kids or painting murals in the school. Then, everyone goes and plays outside together to have fun and burn off some steam at the end of the day. 

Each year the group has a marquee project, which they work on all summer long. Last year the marquee project was a partnership with Gratiot McDougall United Community Development Corporation. 

“We turned a vandalized wall overlooking a litter-strewn, overgrown lot into a mural park. We took materials from a demolition that we did down the street to make benches,” Falik says. “Our goal is to leave it a little better than we found it.” 

SITC specifically picks projects and partnerships that are exciting and engaging. Projects include demolishing blighted buildings in Detroit, painting murals, planting community gardens, creating mosaic benches from bottle caps and bricks, working with elementary school kids and fixing up community playgrounds. 

According to Falik, the mood at SITC is always up-tempo and fun, because everyone wants to be there. There is music pumping, people are laughing, and everyone is just having a great time.

One of the persistent problems with volunteering as Falik sees it is the issue of “150 volunteers and only 50 shovels.” SITC changes this by assuring that all SITC volunteers are actively engaged and participating in the projects.

Another unique aspect of SITC is its flexibility. Anyone can volunteer any time they want -- no need to sign up in advance. Just show up in the morning at one of the seven carpool sites around the city. Volunteers can participate as much or as little as they want. 

“We have some people that come everyday, some that come once a week, and some that just come sporadically throughout the summer,” Falik says. 

This year the program has grown that volunteers are able to choose from a variety of different projects each day. “So if you want to demolish building everyday you can do that, or if you want to go work with the elementary school kids everyday you can do that too,” Falik says.

If you can only pick one day to come out to SITC, Falik suggests Fridays. Each Friday the various volunteer groups convene back together and have a big barbeque with food and music and everyone talking about everything they did all week. 

So, if you are looking for a fun and fulfilling way to spend your days this summer, pick up a shovel or sledgehammer or paintbrush and check out Summer in the City. All the information can be found on their website at: www.summerinthecitydetroit.org or you can call: 248-790-1000.

Can’t make it out to Summer in the City? Check out these websites for other great ways to volunteer around Detroit this summer:

www.volunteerimpact.org

www.volunteermatch.org

www.idealist.org