Union College volunteers make an impact
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By BOB REEVES/Lincoln Journal Star
Instead of sitting in a classroom with notebook and pen, Union College student Jason Donovan spent Thursday morning pushing a shovel. He was part of a team of students who were volunteering at Lincoln’s Mahoney Park, digging trenches around trees and filling them with wood chip mulch.
It was part of Project Impact, the annual event in which Union College students descend on the community to do service projects for more than 50 government and non-profit agencies around Lincoln.
This is the 25th year for the project, which is considered the longest-running and largest — in terms of student participation — of any collegiate event of its kind in the country, according to Rich Carlson, campus chaplain at the Seventh-day Adventist college.
Over the years, more than 13,000 Union College students and employees have shared 90,000 volunteer hours in the annual event, which kicks off the academic year.
This year more than 900 students and employees participated, compared with the nearly 1,000 total enrollment this fall. Classes were cancelled, and students gathered at 8 a.m. at the clock tower in the center of campus to don red Project Impact T-shirts, grab juice and a doughnut, then join work teams going out into the community.
The students spent the morning helping at volunteer sites throughout the city, ranging from public libraries to schools to non-profit human service agencies. In the afternoon, they were joined by 125 employees from Lincoln Action Program for a neighborhood project in the Clinton and Hartley neighborhoods.
“It keeps your focus on what’s important,” Donovan said as he took a break from his shovel. “Education is important, but learning to serve our community is what our education should be preparing us for.”
Donovan, from Minnesota, is a UC graduate who returned to college to study to become a physicians assistant.
“It makes us feel we’re a part of the community,” said Katie Carlson, a junior from Hamburg, Pa., who also was digging and shoveling mulch at Mahoney Park. “I’m from the East Coast. This makes me feel like I’m a part of Lincoln.”
The students’ T-shirts captured the purpose behind the event: bright red with a blue Project Impact logo on the front and the words “Impacting Lincoln for Christ” on the back.
“I just want to be like Jesus, and he was helping others,” said Emily Eskildsen, a student leader for eight volunteers at Holmes School. They spent the morning scrubbing walls and cleaning up the grounds in preparation for next week’s start of school.
A group of volunteers at Randolph School filled packets for parents and students and helped teachers get supplies and materials ready for the first day of school.
“These teachers give of their time all year,” said Brittni Brady, a junior from Burleson, Texas, who was volunteering at the school. “It’s not hard to give a morning or a day to help them out.”
Jeff Moore, a senior from Phoenix, Ariz., another volunteer at Randolph, was participating in his third Project Impact. Two years ago he helped clean and paint the downtown YWCA, and last year he helped move food at the Good Neighbor Center.
“It helps us be aware of the needs in the community,” he said.
Reaching out to those in need is part of the overall mission of the Seventh-day Adventist college, said Justin Okimi, assistant chaplain and coordinator of the event. “As a Christian school I think we’ve always talked about how our Christianity should be reflected in helping others. Not only do we help the community, but it changes our students’ lives.”
Some 25 students plus staff members from the Mid-America Seventh-day Adventist Headquarters spent the morning at the Center for People in Need, helping sort through piles of clothing, office equipment and household items donated by local businesses for non-profit agencies and low-income families.
“It’s a chance to work with all your friends and meet new people while knowing you’re helping somebody out,” said Stephen Wasemiller, a freshman participating in his first Project Impact.
Another 20 students spent all day at Pentzer Park, near 27th and Fair streets, leading a day camp for neighborhood kids. Most were from the college’s International Club, made up primarily of students from other countries.
Quesia Sousa, a native of Brazil, enjoyed teaching the kids crafts and reading them stories. “We had an opportunity to talk with them about their lives and share something about ourselves,” she said.
That human connection is an important part of Project Impact, Okimi and other leaders said.
Project Impact began in 1981 as Project Brush, with the goal of painting 100 houses for needy Lincoln residents in the 10 years leading up to Union College’s centennial in 1991, Carlson said. In fact, student volunteers painted 113 houses over those years.
Then they decided to broaden the program to include a wide range of service activities.
Now the one-day event requires months of planning, contacting local agencies and scheduling specific work projects.
This year, students also participated in Thursday’s Read for the Record, a nationwide event in which children and adults all over the country read “The Little Engine That Could.”
Other students helped serve meals at the Downtown ActivAge Center, sorted clothing and other donations at Goodwill Industries and did cleanup or painting at several agencies that help those in need.
At about 12:30 p.m., the students gathered at Peter Pan Park, 33rd and W streets, to eat pizza, then divided into teams for the afternoon project in the north Lincoln neighborhoods.
A team from Lincoln Action Program came equipped with paint, rollers and scrapers and set to work painting over and removing graffiti along the MoPac Trail just east of the park.
Lincoln Action Program closed its office for the afternoon so 125 employees, plus additional volunteers, could participate, said Laura Curry, volunteer coordinator for LAP.
“Part of our mission is to help change the face of poverty,” she said. “We want to send a message that graffiti will not be tolerated.”
The afternoon project also involved planting trees, cutting weeds and picking up trash and debris along alleys and streets. A group of younger volunteers, made up of all 24 pupils from George Stone Elementary School, a teacher-training school on the Union College campus, formed a litter brigade to clean up sidewalks and streets.
A major goal of this year’s event, Carlson said, was to demonstrate to Lincoln’s businesses and other organizations the impact they can have by devoting a day to volunteerism. “Imagine what could happen to our city and our community if every business took even a half day off” to do volunteer work, he said.
The project is a way of sharing the Gospel through actions rather than words, said Jose Rojas, who oversees volunteer ministries for the Seventh-day Adventist Church nationwide. Rojas spoke at the morning kickoff event and at a concluding celebration Thursday evening at College View Seventh-day Adventist Church.
More than 300,000 Adventists, including 76,000 students, volunteer nationwide each year in community projects, he said. “It’s nice to be known for our hands. Let’s do it with an attitude — the attitude of Christ.”
“Project Impact follows Christ’s own example of service — feeding people, clothing people in need,” said Jacque Smith, director of public relations at the college. She quoted Jesus’ words in Matthew 25:40 — “Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
Reach Bob Reeves at 473-7212 or at breeves@journalstar.com.
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