Hey, students — this holiday season, celebrate by volunteering!

It's the time for giving.

But for students, scrapped for time and cash, it can be challenging to find ways and means to give back to the larger community.

And some service organizations have been burnt by the crazy college lifestyle — students commit to volunteering but then fail to follow through, said Lori Johns, director of Lawrence's Roger Hill Volunteer Center.

But Johns is hopeful that more students will find unique and specially tailored opportunities to give their time and talents for good causes. Short-term, community-organized events such as a day of raking leaves or cleaning food pantries are good options for the civic-minded but low on availability, she said.

Many students, including freshman Lindsay Holtvedt, choose Jubilee Cafe, a food kitchen for the homeless and precariously housed, as an occasional giveback to the greater Lawrence community.

Holtvedt says that she got involved after hearing about it from a friend and now attends every week, satisfied with — and willing to get up early for — the fuzzy feeling she gets by providing a hot breakfast to those in need.

College students should take opportunities like Jubilee Cafe to volunteer. There's the selfish reasons — showing well-rounded-ness on post-grad applications, the good feelings boost that certainly doesn't hurt in times of stress — but more importantly, there's the demonstration of the selfless.

We owe it to the communities that take us in, at least temporarily, to try to leave them nicer than we found them.

So this holiday season, consider stepping up. Resources to find a good fit for you here in Lawrence are plentiful — and the saints who run these organizations can always use an extra pair of (young) hands.