LEAPS day of service is celebrating its 16th year on TCU’s campus Oct. 16, and this year the directors have revamped the program to make the sites more relational based.

This year, there are 23 sites at which to volunteer, ranging from the Humane Society to Morningside Middle School. The majority of the sites are focused on helping people directly and forming relationships.

“I drastically went through the list of all our sites and cut out a ton because we really want to make it relational service so that people will keep wanting to come back,” said co-director Kaitlin Stutts, a junior biology major.

Choosing which sites at which to volunteer is a standard process for the LEAPS executive team. LEAPS provides transportation for all student volunteers, so all sites, with the exception of Mission Arlington and All Star Equestrian Foundation, are less than a 20 minute car ride from TCU’s campus.

“We have had a running list that we pass down to each exec board of sites. Some of the sites said no for liability reasons but a lot said yes. There’s no set criteria as to how we choose sites, it’s just whoever says yes,” said Stutts.

The big reason for the changes of sites is because one of LEAPS’ goals is to get people, students and alumni to go back to where they served and to continuously volunteer at the site. By adding new sites that are relational based co-directors Stutts and Jessica Puyo, a junior childhood education major, are hoping that people will want to give more.

“We’re putting together sheets to hand out to participants with everything they need to know about how to go back and volunteer to make it easier for them,” said Stutts.

To learn more about LEAPS, visit orgsync, or email Jessica Puyo or Kaitlin Stutts.