Despite midterm season and out-of-class activities, community officials say many students are actively volunteering in the State College.

Ernest Boyd, an employee at the State College Area Food Bank, 208 W. Foster Ave., said the food bank attracts more volunteers than it needs to operate.

"During the summer we have fewer [student volunteers], but during the school year we have more than we need, which is a wonderful problem to have," he said.

Boyd added that the abundance of volunteers might be attributed to the food bank's central location downtown.

"One reason why we have so many [student volunteers] is because we are in walking distance," he said.

Jayana Cali, an employee at the Volunteer Center of Centre County, 139 S. Pugh St., said the center sees a steady stream of students all year round.

But Cali added that since the center started advertising throughout campus, more people have been volunteering.

"More students have been coming in this semester than the last," she said. "I think it may be because we advertised more."

Cali said many people come in for class, court-related issues, or for sororities and fraternities that require community service hours.

Rob Recker (sophomore-actuarial science), a member of Kappa Delta Rho fraternity, 420 E. Prospect Ave., said his fraternity does not currently require community service hours, but members are considering volunteering around the area.

"We always considered our Thon canning trips to be our community service, but we're looking into doing more now," he said.

Holly Johnson, a spokeswoman for the State College American Cancer Society, 123 S. Sparks St., said most students volunteer on campus instead of the local volunteer centers, where mostly older residents volunteer.

Johnson added that many students are volunteering for the American Cancer Society on campus by getting involved with the Relay for Life, a cancer philanthropy relay that will be held April 9 and 10 on the HUB lawn.

Colleges Against Cancer President Ryan McGarry said more than 100 students have registered to walk in the relay and about 40 students are volunteering on campus with an event committee.

He said this is the first year Penn State is directly involved with the relay, which has been held off campus in the past.

While many service centers are within walking distance, some students said they do not know how to find about the service centers.

Kevin Fomalont (freshman-psychology) said he volunteered at a summer camp during high school, but hasn't done any community service in State College.

"I'm not really sure how I would go about finding programs to volunteer for," Fomalont added.

Cali said students can call the Volunteer Center of Centre County to set up an appointment to browse a volunteer service database.

Some students, such as Julia Buckwalter (sophomore-art and Arabic), find volunteer services on their own.

Buckwalter said she would soon be doing some community service after a friend helped her contact a woman who needs a dog walker.

"My friend knows that I go running, and that I like dogs, so she sent me an e-mail about her," she said.