Some members of the Coalition of Indian Undergraduate Students would have painted homes Saturday if it had not rained. However, the rain didn't stop them from finishing a day of community service.
Gandhi Day, an event the coalition, or CIUS, holds every year is a day of giving back to the local community.
"It's a day of community service to honor (Mahatma) Gandhi's actions of what he did for India in the time where we were trying to find independence," CIUS President Sonal Wagh said.
Six locations were chosen for students to volunteer, although volunteers were only able to participate at four because of the rain.
Madhu Manyam, a physiology sophomore, was supposed to participate in the "Paint-A-Place" event, which has students renovating local homes. Manyam instead went to the Advent House in Lansing.
"To me, it doesn't matter what the place is where I go to volunteer as long as I'm volunteering," she said.
Students who went to Advent House, which is a weekend day shelter that provides meals for people in need, helped serve food, cleaned dishes and spent time with locals.
"It can give a sense of hope to know that there are people that are always willing to help and give back to the community and whatnot," Manyam said.
Other Gandhi Day participants went to the Boys and Girls Club of Lansing to spend some time with local youths.
"Even though it's not as much as Gandhi did, it's still something," Pratima Nayak said as she colored a picture with a local child. "That's what Gandhi did — he encouraged us to be part of the community."
Children at the Boys and Girls Club also played with volunteers in bumper pool, ping pong and games on computers.
While some students stayed in one location, others, like Karthik Sivaraman, drove site to site to deliver pizza to the volunteers and make sure things were running smoothly.
"(Anyone that helped out) changed at least one person's life to show that there are people out there that do care to lend a helping hand to others," said Sivaraman, a physiology junior and treasurer of CIUS.
"If we changed one person's life, that's all that matters."
Students also volunteered at Impression 5 Science Center in Lansing. Volunteers helped kids with science experiments and explained how science works, Wagh said.
"We were able to interact with the younger generation and teach them about science and the things that they need to be successful and make the community a better place," she said.
CIUS students also painted walls in the Volunteers of America building in Okemos.
Jayesh Patel, a finance sophomore, painted all day at the site. The project was a good opportunity to remember Gandhi's efforts for India, he said.
"I'll participate again next year because it's a great opportunity to volunteer and it's for a good cause," Patel said.
"(Gandhi is important because) he represents a person that helped bring freedom to India, and he was respected by many people for his nonviolent revolution."
