Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Volunteer Center’s Founding

The educational philosophy of Meiji Gakuin University is to “Do for Others” as our founder Dr. James Curtis Hepburn did throughout his life. The Volunteer Center was founded following the Great Hanshin earthquake of 1995, when many Meji Gakuin students went to the disaster area on their own initiative to join the rescue efforts. In the two decades since then, the center has supported a wide range of volunteer activities. We believe the desire of our students to contribute to society through volunteer activities is deeply rooted in our school philosophy of “doing for others.”

However, volunteering means more than just participating in charitable activities without pay. Elements of the volunteer spirit exist in all fields of work, research, study, and everyday life. Nurturing the ability to think about how to do for others in a wide range of societal settings is the very core of our educational philosophy.  

As the Volunteer Center enters the twentieth year since our founding, we see our role moving forward as providing a space for many different people both within the university and outside of it to exchange information, interact with one another, and reflect as they work toward realizing the ideal of “Do for Others.”

Eriko Sugiyama
Director, Volunteer Center