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HUNTINGTON UNIV MAGAZINE

Huntington students volunteer for Fall Work Day

FOR RELEASE October 25, 2006

Students remove bushes and redo landscape in front of Coffee D'Vine.

HUNTINGTON, IN—The Joe Mertz Center of Huntington University tied together campus and community Oct. 21 during the organization’s annual Fall Work Day.

The JMC has planned and coordinated this event to plunge the residential campus into the depths of the community needs since 1996. Volunteers divide up into groups, usually by floors, and are assigned a location and a project. JMC employees contact and are contacted by organizations or people who need volunteer help.

Since the beginning years, Fall Work Day has averaged approximately 425 volunteer hours a year. This year’s 222 volunteers, up from 186 in 2005, gave 777 hours of community service.

Maggie McWilliams, a freshman elementary education major from Franklin, Ind., helps with the cleaning effort at Good Shepherd Church.

Groups went to places such as Huntington’s Head Start to help out with yard work—pulling weeds and raking leaves. Another group went to the YMCA to assist with organizing and cleaning rooms.

Crystal Hippensteel, director of first-year students and volunteer service, is excited about events like Fall Work Day, especially since students are giving back to the community.

“There is a great deal of need in Huntington that sometimes goes unnoticed by university students,” Hippensteel said, “and I am thrilled when I see students giving of their time to help others.”

Nichole Wolf, a freshman educational ministries major from Atlanta, Ind., takes donations for the Boot Shake, a fundraiser for the American Red Cross.

Hippensteel, along with JMC Public Relations Coordinator Amie Arthur, believe that this is what they as Christians are called to do.

“It is great to see Huntington University students, faculty, and staff actually becoming the hands and feet of Christ,” Hippensteel said.

Arthur added, “There is such a great cry for help in the Huntington community, and I believe that it is important that, as Christians, we show the community how much Christ cares for them.”

In addition to the witness and care that the volunteers share, Arthur, a sophomore public relations major from Pandora, Ohio, said that Fall Work Day also builds strong bonds between floor members as they serve side by side.

The motto for the JMC this year is “love with an action.”

“It basically sums up the main point of why we are here,” Arthur said, “to give the students an opportunity to serve with love.”

The JMC is a student-directed organization that was founded in 1992. Since then it has become an integral part of Huntington University campus life. More than 70 percent of resident students are involved in some form of volunteer service, and more than 10,000 hours of labor are contributed by the campus community each year.

Huntington University is a comprehensive Christian college of the liberal arts offering graduate and undergraduate programs in more than 70 academic concentrations. U.S.News & World Report ranks Huntington among the best colleges in the Midwest. Founded in 1897 by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Huntington University is located on a contemporary, lakeside campus in northeast Indiana. The University is a member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU).

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