It started with an idea last year that spread across the country to hundreds of Grand Canyon University online social work students.
They went into their communities during Thanksgiving week – to street corners and shelters, to nursing homes and schools, to chapels and rehab centers.
To anywhere people needed help or comfort.
In the second year of GCU Social Work Service Week, 366 students and faculty served others, from Maine to California, from Charlotte, N.C., to Maryvale just down the road.
“What it comes down to is social work is about improving communities and helping people,” said GCU Social Work Faculty Chair Colin Witherspoon, who attributed the increase from 215 to 366 students serving to the growth of GCU’s social work programs and seeing the impact others made.
“They are seeking degrees to help people around them.”
They did.
They brought a meal to a retirement home and read stories to kids at a school. They did equine therapy and packed birthday boxes for needy children.
They ran errands for people who can’t see, had movie night in a homeless shelter and served meals in every corner of the U.S.
“Seeing smiles on everyone’s faces reminded me how powerful a simple act of kindness can be …,” GCU student Alexis Perez posted on the Padlet page where the service projects are shared with the public.
The first post was from none other than Witherspoon, who joined online full-time faculty member Dr. Michelle Griego at nearby City Hope Arizona, a local nonprofit with a food bank.
Hundreds of service projects followed. Participants gave away turkeys in Fresno and dished out food at a Sikh place of worship, helped children in poverty at a church in Champaign, Illinois, and wrote letters to often lonely people in long-term care facilities.
They gave haircuts and hot chocolate in Glendale and held a chapel tailgate for Chiefs fans in Kansas City.
Many shared food, inspired by a holiday that celebrates it and motivated by the trimming of benefits during a government shutdown.
Sharing the posts sparked ideas.
GCU faculty member Dr. Brandon Fields volunteered at Operation Christmas Child, filling boxes of goodies for children in need, sparking several other students in later days to do the same.
There were repeat posters, such as Marla Jones, who volunteered at Healing House KC, where she was once helped with her own 12-step recovery.
Something happens when you take a few minutes to read through the posts.
If you feel distraught about hateful public discourse in our society, you read that Briana Morales, a photographer and student, took holiday photos for families at a women’s shelter.
If you’re feeling down about grocery prices, you can read that Krista White in Dayton, Ohio, talked to displaced children about finding the light during holidays.
If you were cut off in traffic, you can read about how one student gave raincoats to the homeless and shared a message that “God loves them, God sees them.”
“The idea was, these are adult student all across the country, what kind of impact can we have by sharing with each other?” Witherspoon said. “They are scrolling through and seeing everyone else do it, so it’s not just uplifting the community they are in, they are inspiring each other, which is kind of cool.”
Grand Canyon University senior writer Mike Kilen can be reached at [email protected]
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