JACKSON, Tenn. — Nov. 4, 2020 — Students, faculty and staff served the Union and Jackson community through 46 different service projects around the city on Nov. 3.
This year marks the 18th annual 鈥淐ampus and Community Day: A Day of Remembrance and Service,鈥� when Union takes the day off from classes to give back to the community as a way to remember God鈥檚 protection over the campus during three tornadoes (鈥�02, 鈥�03 and 鈥�08).
鈥淭his year is especially important because the organizations in our community are still meeting very real needs despite the unique nature of the year,鈥� said Emily Shoemaker, University Ministries' coordinator for service and events. 鈥淭oday was our way of thanking them for the great work they do for the people of Jackson.鈥�
Students on the 鈥淪erve鈥� Team, a year-long servant leadership program through the Office of University Ministries, served at a community garden on East Chester Street with Keep My Hood Good, a local nonprofit whose mission is to break the generational and poverty cycles in families.
Anna Tankersley, junior elementary education major from Memphis, Tennessee, has been volunteering with Keep My Hood Good on a weekly basis through Serve, and she also participated in the Campus and Community Day project. The students helped advertise the garden so neighborhood residents could come harvest turnip and mustard greens, and also provided a handout of the vegetables鈥� health benefits and samples of greens for residents to try.
Tankersley said from her involvement on the Serve Team, she has learned how the Lord calls believers to service and that it is not something separate from the gospel 鈥� it is part of the gospel.
鈥淓veryone on the team, we wanted to do Serve mainly to get involved in the Jackson community," she said.
Juanita Jones, founder and executive director of Keep My Hood Good, said she is thankful for the Union students鈥� help with her organization Tuesday and throughout this year.
鈥淲hen Emily Shoemaker had emailed me about offering Union interns to come help Keep My Hood Good, I could have shouted,鈥� Jones said. 鈥淸The students] are absolutely amazing. From the very first time that I met with them and introduced Keep My Hood Good to them, they have been just willing to help do whatever.鈥�
Students from the cross-country teams and Bike Recycling Club, along with faculty and staff, worked at the Union trails across from campus to clean up trash, install a bench at the entrance, clean away trees from trails, dig turns for a new trail and build a storage shed for the Bike Recycling Club.
Jaden Hunter, junior electrical engineering major from Hendersonville, Tennessee, and cross-country team member, said he wanted to help make the trails safer and more fun for anyone who walks, bikes or runs them.
鈥淏eing on cross-country, we actually run over in these trails a lot, so anything we can do to help make them better and safer for everybody, that鈥檚 something that I鈥檓 really passionate about,鈥� Hunter said.
Debate team students served at the Regional Inter-Faith Association in their thrift store, sorting items in the food pantry for snack backpacks and working in the soup kitchen. Merry Ashlyn Gatewood, sophomore political science major, said the debate team wanted to serve at RIFA since its group was large and could help with many needs.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always good to serve the community, and I haven鈥檛 done a lot this semester 鈥� especially with COVID, it seems like there鈥檚 been a lot less opportunities for service,鈥� Gatewood said. 鈥淭his seems like a really easy way to get involved. There鈥檚 not much to it, but you can help the community in tangible ways, and food is obviously a very important and ongoing need.鈥�
Union鈥檚 Enactus chapter, an organization that serves to educate the community about how market economics and businesses operate through various projects, worked on its cyber recycling project to refurbish donated computers for students or other organizations in need to use.
Beau Houser, a senior business marketing major from Knoxville, Tennessee, and student president of Enactus, said Campus and Community Day was a way to give back to Jackson for how the community has helped Union in the past, especially after the 2008 tornado.
鈥淚鈥檓 grateful that we have this day now to be able to serve one another on campus and also serve those outside of the Union community, but still around us, with their local needs just as they helped us in a pretty desperate one we had,鈥� Houser said.