Tag: service

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HOPE Office Launched for Student Volunteers

After a half semester of planning, an official HOPE office has been opened in the campus center basement for student assistance. According to Hanna Kahler and Jina Libby, juniors both involved in the formation of the office, HOPE aims to both track student volunteer service and connect students with new volunteer opportunities in the area.

Greg Bish, director of student programs, maintains that the initiation of a HOPE office is a continuation of a strong tradition of service at the college. “There have been variations of the HOPE office through the years. The HOPE office as we’re currently experiencing it started just this year. If you look at service, service goes all the way back to Willard J. Houghton,” he said.

Courtesy of voiceseducation.org
Courtesy of voiceseducation.org

One of the current projects of the HOPE office has been the use of “Impact Cards” to quantify student involvement in the community as volunteers. Said Bish, “It’s an effort to do some data-gathering and not just anecdotally say our students do service. We do know they do service, but we’re just trying to find a way to collect information about what they’re doing.” The cards, which work in a way similar to timecards, may be filled out on a weekly basis and may include hours from multiple volunteer projects.

Initial response to Impact Cards has been slow. “[The cards have] been trickling in,” said Bish. “I wouldn’t say there’s been a huge overflow yet. We’ve not gotten hundreds back by any means, but we’re in the early stages.” Kahler added that the office has recorded about 46 ½ volunteer hours from students via Impact Cards. “To me, that is satisfactory. Not as amazing as I would want, but it’s satisfactory,” added Libby. She explained that while the recorded hours may be low, the depth of student volunteering is notably higher. “If you take the JET program alone, there are approximately 20 students going down every Saturday, and that’s six hours a Saturday, eight Saturdays. We’re talking over 700 hours,” she explained.

Impact Cards, while a measure of student volunteering for the college, also aim to be a motivator for current volunteers and those interested in volunteering. “On an individual level, we’re trying to encourage volunteer service in the community, so when people get to 25 hours, we want to … recognize that somehow,” explained Kahler.

Also part of the office’s work is connecting students with potential volunteer opportunities. Through connections with the Southern Tier Regional Volunteer Center, a database that lists opportunities between Jamestown and Binghamton, the office is able to search a pool of current needs for volunteers in the Southern Tier area and pass them on to students with specific volunteer interests.

Locally, the office has worked on establishing volunteer connections with Wellspring Ministries in Belfast, NY; Absolut Care, a nursing and rehabilitation center in Houghton, NY; and the Powerhouse Youth Center in Fillmore, NY. One of Kahler’s and Libby’s current tasks is to publicize a project over spring break which would call for student volunteers for Wellspring Ministries. Another task is to involve student-run clubs and honor societies in leading activities for youth at the Powerhouse center. Explained Bish, “We would ask different clubs and organizations to sign up … and do something related to [their] club. If it’s the French Club, they could be making crepes. If it’s Sigma Zeta, they could be doing a science experiment. Basically, [we’re] trying to get clubs and organizations, or RAs and floors, to … take one day and go volunteer at the after-school program and provide some kind of activity…”

As for long-term projects, Kahler hopes to better integrate volunteer service with classroom instruction. “We’re also doing a faculty survey to see how much service learning there is in the classrooms. It’s something recently developed, so it’s not going to be sent out for a while,” she said. Both she and Libby stressed the importance of service at Houghton. “Looking at it from a Christian perspective, it’s one of our callings, as a Christian, to serve,” said Libby.

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News

Second Annual “Make a Difference Day” Promotes Student Volunteerism

Over four-hundred Houghton College students participated in Saturday’s Make a Difference Day, serving at sites across Allegany County. It was a day of sweaty hard work, team collaboration, laughter, conversations about life and service, and working with the heart to make a difference in Houghton’s community.

Courtesy of Collin Belt
Courtesy of Collin Belt

This marks Houghton’s second annual Make a Difference Day. Phyllis Gaerte, director of community relations, said the initiative started with the vision of Allegany County’s higher education institutes uniting to practically serve the county. Gaerte said, “It thrills me to see our students going out and working alongside our neighbors and meeting some real tangible needs in the community.”

Students from Alfred State College, Alfred University, and Houghton College worked in teams of five to twenty-five people. They scrubbed floors, painted walls, picked up trash, raked fall leaves, ripped up carpets, landscaped, and forged trails through dense forests.

Ben Hardy, SGA president, described the number of non-profit and community organizations lacking staffing to complete basic jobs. He said, “They maybe have staffing for day to day activities, but if they need to do some massive cleaning, redecorating, organizing, or a larger project, they may not have the staffing for that. There are ministries, towns, libraries, churches that just need extra hands. It’s service students can get involved in.”

As students served, community members responded. Describing the community response to last year’s Make a Difference Day, Gaerte said, “I have a folder of thank you notes, e-mails, and press from local newspapers that were part of the days following the event.” This year, students saw this same gratefulness as community organizations thanked them for their diligent work, positive attitudes, speed, and genuine desires to serve.

Hardy said, “The fact that so many students are doing it together also means it builds community.” This community was built as students formed a giant snake of people to clear a path through a forest in Letchworth, jumped in the piles of leaves they raked for the Oakwood Cemetery, and shared conversation by the path they forged to the Genesee River.

Junior Collin Belt described this sense of community at the multiple sites he visited, and said, “There was such a spirit of joy. Students took tedious jobs and turned them into games, and as a result they got a lot done. It was a trend throughout the day: people planned what they thought was an exorbitant amount of work, but when a huge team of Houghton students getting together and just having fun would do the work, they would get it done faster than anyone ever expected.”

Students served in midst of the mere glimpses of sun that shone through the grey sky and the strong wind that blew, whipping leaves and burning faces. The weather did not hinder students’ service.

Hardy believes that this Make a Difference Day lies at the heart of Houghton’s Christian faith. He said, “I believe we are called to service. Jesus came to serve and as his disciples, we ought to be serving as well. This was a great opportunity for us to be hands for our community.”

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News

HOPE: A New Office for Service and Outreach

To encourage dedication of service amongst Houghton students towards the community and surrounding areas, the college has created a new office for Houghton Outreach Programs & Education, or as it is also known as, HOPE. This new office will provide a centralized space on campus where students can learn and participate in upcoming community service opportunities.

Courtesy of voiceseducation.org
Courtesy of voiceseducation.org

The HOPE office, which will be located in the basement of the Campus Center, will offer resources to a current database listing needs of services to students, faculty, and staff.

It will provide students with the chance to discover service opportunities that will accompany their passions in life and study. Gregory Bish, Director of Student Programs said, “I think that one of the key things for the office is actually just to help us better understand and recognize what students are already doing. But I also think that as students, they are looking for opportunities that will be a mechanism for them to find places that are the best fit for them and help their college to be more effective.”

While this new office is meant to provide information and opportunities for community service, Dr. Robert Pool, Vice President of Student Life, explained there is more to what the office can offer students. He said, “The students are learning about themselves, how much they learn about the world in which they live, how they learn to coordinate efforts around needs. There is a lot of learning that goes on that’s very transferable to the outside world when you engage in thought for service.”

Before HOPE, there had never been a coordinated report of the services volunteered by Houghton students. With this new office, the college will be able to obtain that information by reporting data of the volunteer services taking place. This will allow the office to evaluate its programs and services.  “Internally, we want to know how we are meeting the needs of the community” said Pool.

Miriam Griffith, a senior student, expressed her opinion about the new HOPE office, saying, “Service is a pivotal aspect of Houghton College; it seems as though Houghton would not be the same if it did not have a deep love of giving back to those in need. I feel as though having an on-campus office dedicated to providing service opportunities for Houghton students is a great thing and I cannot wait to be a part of what this office is planning.”

At the moment the new office is at the stage of research and development, students and staff currently working together to find out the needs of the community. Currently, Jina Libby, senior, is part of this student staff. Part of her duties include going to areas in need of service, finding what their volunteer needs are, and determining how the college can better prepare the students to address those needs through service.

The HOPE office has identified three places on which they aim to work as their pilot projects. “We are working with the Fillmore Powerhouse, the Houghton nursing home, and Wellspring Ministries in Belfast,” Bish elaborated. Students will be able to start volunteering as soon as this spring.

Pool said “There’s really no centralized place where anyone can say, ‘how can I serve,’ ‘what is available,’ ‘who needs me,’ ‘what are my talents’ and ‘how can I explore those talents by serving others in a volunteer capacity.’” HOPE’s goal is to change that. “That’s what this office is all about” said Pool.

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Lessons Learned from Ash Wednesday

The tradition of ashes on Ash Wednesday is not something that I was familiar with before coming to Houghton. This year, after two previous years of Ash Wednesday services, the significance struck. During chapel Wednesday I had the privilege of putting ashes on people as they came for communion, and as the service progressed I became more and more deeply impressed with two thoughts: mortality and equality. These two combined to form a third thought: humility.

Courtesy of http://www.latinospost.com/
Courtesy of http://www.latinospost.com/

One of the first people to come for ashes was an elderly gentleman, who leaned forward to indicate he would like ashes on his forehead. Then later, one of my professors did the same. My friends that I see daily in class and around campus held out hands for ashes. A college administrator was in line with students.  As I took pinches of ashes and made the sign of the cross, I was struck by how similar each of us is. While for some mortality and death is a daily thought, for me—and, I imagine, the majority of my college-aged friends—it is not that high on the agenda. Yet in the process of receiving ashes, we are all reminded equally of impending death and mortality. The words of receiving ashes are eerily similar to those of a funeral service, ashes to ashes and dust to dust.

My insignificance in the scope of eternity was almost as tangible as the dish of ashes I was holding. I was standing there as a college student, giving ashes alike to my peers and those who are my seniors in age, experience, maturity, wisdom, and knowledge. What right did I have? Partway through I started wondering if I was actually qualified for the job. After all, I do not have a degree in giving out ashes. Who was I to remind others of their mortality? Then it struck me: that was the point exactly. It wasn’t that I was ‘good enough’. It wasn’t a degree that I had; on the contrary my very lack of ‘worthiness’ was the whole point. Giving ashes is not a top-down action that I do because I have somehow attained the right. Instead, it is something that I do as an act of service to those who are receiving ashes in humility, and in humility I receive the reminder of my mortality from someone else.

The words from Micah 6:8 ran through my head:
“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.” (NIV)

Here at Houghton we talk a lot about justice and mercy. We take classes on international development and bringing Christ to all people through humanitarian work, defense of the defenseless, and being relevant leaders in a changing world. Certainly I am not saying anything negative at all about this work, but sometimes I wonder if in our focus on some of the things that are good we forget that there is more as well.

In Philippians 2:3, Paul says “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves” (NIV)

Do we focus on justice and mercy and conveniently forget humility? Houghton people, in my observation, are fairly good at being good at what we do. What is more challenging in some cases is being good at not needing to inform others of how good we are at what we do. Are we pushing ourselves to excel at our work so that at the end of the semester we can smugly inform everyone we know about getting another 4.0? Or are we pushing so that we are better equipped to glorify God through our lives? In this season of Lent, I challenge and encourage you—as I do myself—to examine your heart and motives before God.

Remember that you are dust, and to dust you will return.