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It’s not the easiest summer job, but student Aaron Buettner is learning new skills, and more importantly, his work will benefit over 80 non-profit agencies and give hundreds of volunteers an opportunity to engage in service work. Buettner, a senior majoring in physical therapy and business administration, is this year’s student coordinator for Maryville Reaches Out.

Maryville Reaches Out will be held Tuesday, Sept. 20. Registration begins Aug. 29, however, if you’d like to be a team leader, you can register now; projects are available for review. Follow updates on social media using the hashtag #MRO16.

Each year, the entire Maryville University community is invited to participate in Maryville Reaches Out (MRO), a day-long event during which volunteers work on community service projects throughout St. Louis and beyond. Typically, more than 1,000 Maryville volunteers fan out across the region. Classes beginning before 4 p.m. are cancelled, and staff are excused from the office in order to encourage participation.

Coordinating this signature effort is project management to the max. Kathy Quinn, dean of students, says Buettner rose to the challenge.

“There are so many moving parts to MRO and Aaron has done a great job balancing them all,” Quinn says. “He has been working diligently all summer preparing for MRO and has done an outstanding job connecting with agencies, enhancing our marketing efforts, and developing new initiatives to incorporate into the day. I can’t wait to see the results of his hard work and dedication come to life on September 20. It’s going to be a great day.”

For Buettner, a typical day starts with checking the MRO email account to keep up to date on what agencies have applied, respond to any questions, and make sure things are on track. In fact, both the daily and weekly view features a lot of “reaching out.”

“I reach out to all the agencies who want to be involved, plan the send-off celebration the morning of Maryville Reaches Out, help maintain the website for people to view and register for projects, and recruit project leaders and participants,” Buettner says. “The one thing that is the same on a majority of days is my lunch break to Chipotle. I had Chipotle for lunch thirteen times in one month.”

Staying ahead in the process is important, Buettner says. “If I fall behind, it takes twice as long to catch up,” he says. Managing a second job, too—Buettner is a member of the event staff for the St. Louis Cardinals, a gig that keeps him busy working nearly every home game—makes for long days. “I’ve worked over 80 hours some weeks,” he says.

Buettner has enjoyed making connections with leaders of the MRO project agencies. “I am a huge people-person,” he says. “It has been so cool to meet genuinely good-hearted people who want to help others, just like me.”

“So many projects can be so small and you may not think they make a difference. But I promise that no matter how small, every sign of love is appreciated, and could drastically impact someone’s life…”

He’d like to set a record this year: “My first day, I was going through numbers of previous years. Our record was just over 1100 participants back in 2013. I would love to match, if not beat this,” he says.

As a new component this year, Maryville will host a food and toiletry drive in conjunction with MRO. The idea was proposed by Buettner to involve even more volunteers, and to create a broader impact overall. “Hopefully, we can send multiple van loads of items out to an agency in need,” he says.

Buettner was already familiar with MRO, and brings a volunteer perspective to his job. “I have participated in Maryville Reaches Out each of the last three years,” Buettner says. “It is one of those things where you truly do get out as much as you put in, even if that is cliché. And choosing a project where you don’t know the other volunteers is a great way to make friends with your peers.”

The most important takeaway he received as an MRO volunteer came during his first year of experience, Buettner says.

“I volunteered at a local school for underprivileged children. In talking with the teacher, I found out that one girl had no parents, a boy had both parents in prison, and another child came from a well-off family who got scammed and lost everything,” he says. “It made me realize everyone has their own story. It is so important to treat everyone with respect and dignity.”

While Buettner is a strong advocate for Maryville Reaches Out, he encourages the Maryville community to look beyond this important event for additional opportunities to give back. “MRO doesn’t have to last just this one day,” he says. “So many projects can be so small and you may not think they make a difference. But I promise that no matter how small, every sign of love is appreciated, and could drastically impact someone’s life…maybe even your own, because, as Mahatma Gandhi said, ‘The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.’”