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Image Caption: During Great Day of Service 2012, Austin College students worked at Belden Street Montessori to clean and revitalize playground equipment.
Austin College students will take to the streets in volunteer activities this weekend in the College’s annual Great Day of Service, Saturday, November 2. Students will work at nearly 50 locations benefitting non-profits across the North Texas region.
Students are called to help with projects of all kinds. At the therapeutic riding center Hannah’s Horseshoes for Hope, volunteers will paint, clean, and work on fencing. Students will make lunches at Grand Central Station food kitchen, and will organize bingo for patients at Beacon Hill Nursing Home. That is just the beginning of the work. From a Habitat to Humanity build to service to area churches, from yard work at Eisenhower Birthplace in Denison to Pottsboro Public Library, students will share their time with area agencies and groups.
“Service is part of our campus culture, and we are privileged to be able to share our time and energy with these many excellent organizations,” said President Marjorie Hass. “It is my hope that the work of our students will be beneficial far beyond this weekend.”
Before the students head into the community, they meet another need. Participants bring canned food items to the day’s opening event. The food items go to Helping Hands Food Pantry of Denison.
This is the 17th year the College has organized the Great Day of Service event, which complements the “Great Days of Service” sponsored by area churches during the summer. Because few students are at Austin College during the summer, a fall event allows students to give back to the community.
Austin College is a leading national independent liberal arts college located north of Dallas in Sherman, Texas. Founded in 1849, making it the oldest institution of higher education in Texas operating under original charter and name, the College is related by covenant to the Presbyterian Church (USA). Recognized nationally for academic excellence in the areas of international education, pre-professional training, and leadership studies, Austin College is one of 40 schools profiled in Loren Pope’s influential book Colleges That Change Lives.
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