Service has always been a huge part of my life. Here are some ways Longwood has helped me to serve:
- During my first month at Longwood, I was asked to participate in an honors retreat to Hull Springs Farm. Hull Springs is in Westmoreland, Virginia. The land was donated by Longwood alumni. During my time at this retreat, I was able to volunteer at a domestic violence shelter and local church. While we were at the shelter, we cleaned the building, paying close attention to detail. While we were at the church, we cleared trees, raked leaves, painted the building, and power washed the sidewalks. Both of theses tasks involved hard-work, but in two different ways. The church maintenance was difficult, physical labor that took stamina and many hands to complete. However, cleaning the domestic violence shelter was more of an internal job. Not only did we clean the building, but we fellowshipped with the individuals and let them know that we saw them, heard them, and stood with them in their time of need.
- I also volunteered to be a co-chair member of the Honor Student Association’s outreach committee. Liz Garri and I planned a bake sale to raise money for the local food pantry! We decided to sell chocolate-covered pretzels and hot chocolate. We took time to make the baked goods, package them, set up a booth, and sell them. Our fellow honors colleagues also put in a lot of hard-work to help everything run smoothly. We walked away with a nice chunk of change to send to the food pantry and Dr. Fink even doubled our profit! This proved to me that Longwood students and faculty have a passion to assist the development of our local community and the place we call home.
- FACES Food Pantry is another part of the community that I have helped serve. I packaged bags of food that were distributed to those in need throughout Farmville. It was so humbling to do the behind the scenes work and see how many community members come together to make Farmville a better place. We all went home hot and sweaty, but we had smiles from ear to ear.
Pre-retreat selfie with friends!
Bake sale fun!
