- Students kick off year with service
Sept. 20 - What could have been a Saturday of relaxation or homework was actually a day filled with heartfelt physical labor for more than 400 Valparaiso University students who participated in the University’s annual Day of Caring event.
Students worked to perform needed services throughout the community of Valparaiso, including landscaping, staining, cleaning, painting, weeding and building handicap accessible ramps. The work took place at homes and businesses that would otherwise not have the resources to do the work.
“The work that the Valpo students do – not just on the Day of Caring – but throughout the year, is truly a blessing to the Valparaiso community,” said Jessica Wilson, assistant director of student activities at Valpo. “The students’ participation and dedication to these organizations illustrates their compassion and willingness to help those in need, and the impact that our students' work has on the community is great.”
Student groups participating included the Student Nursing Association, Campus Crusade for Christ, and INTERLINK as well as a number of athletic teams and fraternities and sororities.
“The Day of Caring really showed me how much fun it can be to help out those in your community, whether it be in someone's back yard or out at Taltree Arboretum,” said Erin Owen, a Valpo junior and member of College Mentors for Kids. “I really enjoyed spending time with my peers, and I was able to feel at ease knowing that I was helping out the community.”
Other students filled the Athletics-Recreation Center and worked with community members and Thrivent Financial Services employees to pack more than 112,000 meals to be delivered to residents in need across Northwest Indiana, setting a record for the meal-packing event at Valpo.
“What a wonderful day of student work to help others with critical needs,” said Carsten Falkenberg, of Thrivent Financial, which organizes the event. “This is the third year of my office heading up this event, and while it is a great deal of work, it is also extremely satisfying to see the excited faces of the volunteers and all the meals that are packed.”
Falkenberg said more meals have been packed at the Valpo events in the last three years (more than 300,000) than at any other event that the Greenwood satellite office has conducted.
During the 2010-11 academic year, Valpo students performed more than 60,000 hours of service work.
