Written by: Lucas Bueno
Earlier this year, Southern Adventist University’s annual MLK Community Service Day was canceled due to icy conditions. As a result, many students were unable to participate and gain community service credit required for graduation. Additionally, many off-campus organizations did not receive help from Southern students.
In an interview with the Accent, Cheryl Craven, director of Christian Service, explained how off-campus organizations and coordinators are dealing with the cancellation.
“There were organizations that were not served, and it was definitely a loss,” Craven said. “ … The good news is that I emailed all the coordinators the day after the cancellation and said, ‘Hey, I’m hearing from people that you still want to do your projects. If you do, here’s the organization’s name, reach out to them.’”
“There were organizations that were not served, and it was definitely a loss.”
Students can continue finding ways to serve and earn community service credits by going to the Christian Service site on Southern’s website. Also, according to an email sent to students by Craven after it was announced that the service day was canceled, students may receive the MLK Community Service Day T-shirt by signing up and participating in a community service event this semester.
“We really want, here at Southern, to create an atmosphere, cultivate an environment, where service is a way of life as opposed to just a checklist of things for our students to do.”
In an interview with the Accent, Julie Devlin, Service Learning and Community Service coordinator, said, “An email was sent from the director of Christian Service to all of the coordinators for the events, to say, ‘Hey, if you still want to do this event, we would love for you to partner with whichever organization it was. Please let us know of the date and the time, and we can plug the event back into the system, post it and then students can sign up for it.’ So that actually happened with several organizations.”
One event recreated was an event where students could create cards for at-risk women on the streets of Atlanta for the Atlanta Dream Center. Devlin said students write words of encouragement and scriptures on the cards. The event was coordinated by Gus Martin, director of Online Campus. and occurred on Feb. 2.
Another event rescheduled was with Lantern Morning Pointe, where students can serve senior citizens by spending quality time with them, reading to them and playing games, such as cornhole. According to the Christian Service website, this event is scheduled for Feb. 13, 20 and 27.
Devlin said the History Club coordinated an event with the Samaritan Center that involved students ensuring puzzles included all their pieces.
“Once complete, those puzzles are returned to the Samaritan Center to be sold to families with tight purses, and it preserves the dignity of the families,” Devlin said.
Lastly, Devlin mentioned a live event with the nonprofit organization Meow Meow Rescue, scheduled for Valentine’s Day.
“Those kittens need tender loving care and someone to help put out fresh water, dry kitty food [and] clean their litter boxes,” Devlin said.
She added that the Christian Service department is expecting more community service events to pop up this semester.
“We really want, here at Southern, to create an atmosphere, cultivate an environment, where service is a way of life as opposed to just a checklist of things for our students to do.” Devlin said.
“My prayer is that students will make service a way of life, really,” Craven said, “that their experiences here at Southern, whether serving in a LifeGroup [or] serving with their clubs. … My prayer is that they will really learn and experience the joy of serving, so I would encourage anyone who maybe needs the hours or just wants to experience the joy of service, to check it out because we do have many organizations wanting our students to come, and they love our students.”
