Service Day extends—alumni take Messiah College service initiatives beyond campus
On April 10, students and faculty will participate in Messiah College’s annual Service Day. This year Service Day will extend to Service Week with Messiah alumni serving through on- and off- campus projects, either directly engaging with Service Week, or honoring Service Day by completing projects in their own backyards.
Service Day “is designed to help fulfill Messiah College’s mission to prepare students for lives of service, leadership, and reconciliation in church and society.” As they live the lives Messiah College prepared them for, alumni wanted to continue serving together, says Assistant Director of Alumni and Parent Relations Brittany Claridge ’10. “Alumni wanted to find a way to share and connect their spirit of service back to the tradition of Service Day here on campus. A commitment to service has continued to be a common thread in our alumni community since the College’s beginnings.”
The Office of Alumni and Parent Relations organized on-campus projects for alumni to complete. The Climenhaga Building practice rooms will receive a makeover on April 10 as alums clean and paint these rehearsal spaces. Alums can find their own way to give back, too, by serving as mentors or speaking to students about their experiences at Messiah College and in the real world.
The impetus behind Service Week stemmed from a Service Day email accidentally sent to an alumna who currently lives in Arizona. Although she could not serve on campus due to distance, she shared a desire to serve in her community in honor of the on-campus project. Several other alumni expressed the same sentiment during the Office of Alumni and Parent Relations’ FalconNation trip, which solidified the decision to expand this initiative. Off campus, alums will be encouraged to serve in their own communities in any way they desire.
After tracking alumni participation in this pilot year, Messiah College intends to launch a Service Week campaign in 2015. Claridge continues, “Through this initiative, the goal is to recognize the ways that Messiah alums continue to make an impact in the world even after they leave Grantham. We know their commitment to service does not stop here and we want to honor and recognize that.”
If you are a Messiah alum and would like to participate in Service Week, please visit our website where we are logging hours and tracking projects.
By Katie Johnston ‘15
