Heller Service Corps was founded in 1965 as Collegiate Educational Service Corps. Starting with only six students, today’s service corps is Furman’s largest student organization.

Heller is a two-time nationally award winning umbrella service-learning entity. In 1972, service corps received the National Volunteer Award from In 2008, Heller received the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction from the U.S. Department of Education for both overall service and service to disadvantaged youth.

Heller Service Corps is engaged learning at its best. Through the years, thousands of Furman students have brought their talents to the community and have positively affected the lives of countless people, making Heller Service Corps a lasting legacy of Furman’s commitment to engaging students and serving the community.

In November of 2002, local civic and community leaders announced that Collegiate Educational Service Corps would be supported by a new $1.5 million endowment and bear the name of the Hellers, a Greenville couple with a long history of extraordinary service to the community. The Friends of Max and Trude Heller endowed the organization, reflecting the new name of Heller Service Corps. Max Heller, longtime Greenville mayor, is a native of Austria who left his Nazi-occupied homeland in 1938 and came to Greenville to work as a stock boy at Piedmont Shirt Company. He founded Maxon Shirt Company in 1948 and retired in 1969 to devote his time to public service. Max and Trude are tireless advocates of Furman University and service-learning endeavors in the upstate of South Carolina and beyond.

Each year, more than 1800 students work in 40 area agencies serving people with disabilities, working with children, addressing community concerns, and participating in the medical field. Will you be one?