More than 400 freshmen students at DeSales University rolled up their sleeves on Monday, August 21 to help those in need. Members of the class of 2021 spent their first full day on campus completing not one, not two, but THREE service projects.
“... they can make a difference in the community. And that’s what it means to be a DeSales student,” says Jaime Gerhart, director of the Center for Service and Social Justice.
Rise Against Hunger
- Half of the new students packaged 25,000 meals for Rise Against Hunger, an international hunger relief organization that provides nutritious meals to children in developing countries.
- The students were split into two groups and scooped either rice or dried vegetables.
- The meals were then shipped off to countries like Haiti, Ecuador, and Nicaragua.
“The people who live in third-world countries who really can’t get three square meals a day, this helps them out,” says Dominick Esposito ’21. “That can keep them going, keep them from starving, and keep them having a lot of energy and power.”
The remaining 200 students split up into two groups.
- One made plarn mats for the local homeless population by turning plastic bags into sheets of yarn and then crocheting mats for people to sleep on.
- The remaining students made bulletin boards and welcome signs that will be displayed at schools in the Allentown and Bethlehem school districts where DeSales students tutor and mentor.