On March 4th, the Women’s Empowerment Association of Andrews University (WEAAU) collaborated with the Center for Faith Engagement to host a Service Sabbath. In honor of March being Woman History Month, the WEAAU team decided to focus their Service Sabbath on making care packages for homeless women in Benton Harbor. The program was held in the Center for Faith Engagement (CFE) office within the Campus Center. To set the mood of worship and service, they played songs like "Light of Your Love" by Young Oceans and Amanda Cook, with the lyrics “You tell me that I/Am free as a child/I've nothing to fear/In the light of your love.” In the background, the ambience of the office invited students to find joy in helping others. When asked about what the WEAAU team wanted to accomplish with this Service Sabbath, Kira Wirsz (senior, behavioral science), the president of WEAAU, shared, “We wanted to incorporate actually doing something for our area. We haven't done anything like this before, so we thought that working with CFE was a good place to start.” Plenty of students came out to support the WEAAU club. Some sat on the couches conversing with their friends while others wrote encouraging letters to the women who would be receiving the care packages. The team directed students to form an assembly line for an efficient method of creating the care packages. In each bag we put: shampoo, conditioner, soap, deodorant, kleenex, a nail kit, a toothbrush kit, chapstick and hair ties. These materials were lined up on a table for students to take one by one.
Naturally, during this event, the theme of service and what it looks like came up. I asked Maia Hamstra (senior, speech pathology and audiology) the Event Coordinator and Graphic Designer, what the inspiration was behind this event. She answered, “I was a student missionary last year. Mission work is really cool, but you don't have to go somewhere to do mission work. As an officer I wanted to do something to directly help women in my community.” With Maia’s unique perspective, having traveled to serve members of a different community, it was insightful to be reminded of the fact that there are issues everywhere and we can take on the responsibility to take care of those around us. Benton Harbor is so close to our campus and is known to be an underserved area. The president, Kyra Wirsz, echoed this idea saying, “Service does not have to be across the world and there is always a need for it in your own community.”
Valerie Akinyi (senior, political science) certainly seemed to get the idea that WEAAU wanted to highlight. She said, “It’s always good to help. I’ve always kept this saying in mind, ‘Do what you can with what you have.’ You can do cool things even with limited resources.”
All in all, the message WEAAU spread during this service sabbath is that world changers are truly made at Andrews. As a graduating senior, I needed to be reminded of this sentiment. Although I will be leaving our beloved campus very soon, at whatever institution I attend next, I can be a world changer. Service does not just stop at Andrews. I encourage us all to live out this motto in every community we find ourselves in.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.