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JACKSON, Tenn. — Nov. 2, 2010 — More than 1,000 51���� students, faculty and staff members worked on 63 community service projects Nov. 2 as part of the eighth annual “Campus and Community: A Day of Remembrance and Service.”

Campus and Community day is an opportunity for Union to show its appreciation to the community for its assistance after tornadoes hit the campus Nov. 10, 2002, and Feb. 5, 2008. Following the storms the Jackson community stepped in and brought food and supplies to the campus, while local residents gave of their time and talents.

Union cancels most classes on this day each year to allow the university community to participate in projects at such places as local schools, churches, nursing homes and social and non-profit organizations. This year’s turnout was a record for the event, which takes weeks of planning and communication with dozens of people locally.

“I think it’s really important to go out and serve in the community. It’s a neat way to give back,” said Rebecca Thomas, a sophomore from Macon, Ga., who spent the day working at Augustine School in Jackson. “It’s a way to acknowledge God’s grace and goodness in his protection of Union.”

Seth Drown, Augustine’s dean of academic affairs, said the support from Union students was invaluable.

“It means a great deal. We’re very small, and we have a lot to do that exceeds our capacity,” Drown said.

The Union students serving at Augustine raked leaves and sticks and also helped unload a trailer of the school’s contents that had been sitting in a storage facility.

“This is very important to our institution to have that kind of support,” Drown said. The day began with a brief chapel service that included a time of singing and a devotional by Greg Thornbury, Union’s vice president for spiritual life, who spoke to students about the importance of being a blessing to the entire community.

“You’re an example to the churches from which you came and the churches to which you’ll go after you leave 51���� of this sort of all-encompassing view of the need of our cities, of our communities, for the blessing of God’s people – for an affirmation that everything matters,” Thornbury said.

Mason Freeman, a sophomore from Hoover, Ala., spent the day working on landscaping at Cornerstone Community Church in Jackson.

“The community has given so much to Union in the past,” Freeman said. “We’ve seen that through many tornados and other instances like that. They’ve helped Union and poured into Union, so the least we can do is pour out to them for a day – if not for a long time. It’s great to give back for so much that we’ve been given.”