Last Saturday, October 25th, Houghton College, along with Alfred State and Alfred University, participated in Celebrate Service Celebrate Alleghany, a day for students to volunteer their time to give back to the community.
This was the third year of joint participation for the three schools, all located in Allegany County. The day is also set to run parallel to Make A Difference Day, the country’s largest national day of service.
The day started at 8:30 a.m., with projects that ranged from raking leaves, working at the Houghton Retirement home, trail maintenance in the county parks, cleanup on Fillmore’s little league field, cleaning and landscaping a cemetery, and more.
“I think Make A Difference Day is an opportunity to open the door for future relationships that Students can build with the community,” said Katharine Labrecque, Student Government Association (SGA) President and senior. Labrecque worked along side Phyllis Gaerte, Marshall Green, and Jason Stephens to organize student involvement and to plan the student level events.
The SGA worked as a form of public relations for the event, bringing awareness to students and faculty about the event and how to sign up. The organization also helped to fund part of transportation costs to and from the work sites.
“In order to round up interested students, I sent emails to athletic team captains, coaches, and campus clubs to see if on any level they wanted to get involved,” said Labrecque. It paid off because she estimated that about 150-175 students attended the service day, including the full involvement of Houghton’s baseball and softball teams.
The various locations and service events give each student their own experience. Patrick Parson, junior and member of the baseball team, was a participant of Make A Difference Day. Parson viewed the day, not only as a way to help the community, but also as a way to work alongside his teammates. He said his greatest experience from participating in the service day was “the relationship I had with my team.” He went on to say, “There is undoubtedly something inherently special about serving along side others, and my teammates really taught me a lot about life that day.”
Apart from student relationships, the true reason for Make A Difference Day is reaching out to the community. The Make a Different Day website states that the day is meant for the nation to unite under one mission: “to improve the lives of others.”
Kevin Cassar, a senior, was a third year participant of Make A Difference Day. “Every year it gets better,” said Cassar. He then commented on the people he served saying, “the community members of Allegany really appreciate everything that we did. They always have responded in a positive, very grateful way.”
Overall, Make A Difference Day was full of giving and gratitude. “It exposes them [students] to the various service opportunities that they can pursue long-term. It also allows residents throughout the county to meet students and learn about the college,” said Labrecque. “Even more importantly, it’s an opportunity to be a light, and to actively live out our faith through service.”