Come one, come all and volunteer Saturday, April 23. Work with children at the Paleontological Research Institute/Museum of the Earth, visit elderly residents at Lakeside Nursing Home or the Reconstruction Home, work on trails at the Cayuga Nature Center, paint murals at the Ithaca Police Department or wash cars to help raise money for the local YMCA.

These are just a few of the 20 volunteer projects planned for that day. The volunteer opportunities are coordinated by On Site Volunteer Services (OSVS), a student-run, nationally recognized nonprofit organization that links volunteer groups with nonprofit agencies that need help. The April 23 event celebrates National Volunteer Week, April 18-23, an endeavor started by the Points of Light Foundation, to thank volunteers and to call attention to what people can do to improve communities.

"We also hope to reach people who may not be aware of our service, which is to coordinate volunteers, mostly for one-time commitments of about four hours on the weekends, to help nonprofit agencies in the Tompkins County area with particular needs, be it to help run an event, gut a building or clean up a trail," says Lauren Merkley, executive director of OSVS and a senior from Chicago majoring in English in Cornell University's College of Arts and Sciences.

Up to 200 students from Cornell and Ithaca College are expected to volunteer Saturday; the event starts at noon at Cass Park for registration; volunteers will work on assigned projects from about 1 to 4 p.m.

"We provide the tools, training and supervision so that volunteers can concentrate on serving the community and having fun," says Merkley.

Since its founding in 1995 by a Cornell undergraduate student, OSVS has recruited nearly 15,000 volunteers and supplied the greater Ithaca area with more than 55,000 hours of service. Last fall, for example, 1,015 students, community residents and Cornell staff members volunteered with OSVS, providing more than 3,000 hours of service to the community on 75 community-service projects. The activities ranged from playing basketball and floor hockey with children at the YMCA, gardening, mulching and weeding along the Cayuga Waterfront Trail and taking tickets and running the mechanical bull for Ithaca Downtown Partnership's Chili Cookoff to giving manicures, playing games and visiting residents at Lakeside Nursing Home.

Merkley points out that the purpose of OSVS is to leverage community resources by recruiting and providing volunteers on the weekends to agencies, as well as to give students leadership and management training to prepare them to be community leaders. Unlike Cornell's Public Service Center, which focuses on longer-term projects and commitments, OSVS specializes in recruiting volunteers to accommodate one-time service requests. It also provides opportunities for Cornell and Ithaca College students to manage a private, not-for-profit community service agency. OSVS employs 14 college students to manage daily operations.

"Their role exemplifies the dual purpose of OSVS: serving today's local needs while preparing tomorrow's community leaders," Merkley says.

OSVS is funded by gifts from private foundations, individuals and fund raisers; Cornell subsidizes the wages of OSVS student employees through its Community Work-Study Program.

To volunteer for Saturday's program or for other volunteer opportunities, either as individuals or as part of a group, contact Kate Vengraitis, OSVS volunteer services director, at kav24@cornell.edu or (607) 256-0071.