UHMB students ‘Reaching Out’ in service

BELTON—Students from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor spent a recent Saturday clearing out storage rooms, washing dishes, moving heavy boxes and generally cleaning the facilities of service agencies throughout Bell County as part of the university’s Reaching Out community initiative.

“I think UMHB and the community have a really positive relationship, and a contributing factor is Reaching Out,” Director of Student Organizations Kristy Brischke said. “We do service events three times a year, and these agencies are always anxious to get us back each year, so I think we really have been a positive light to them.”

Planned by the UMHB Student Government Association chaplains, the event scattered groups of students across Bell County for volunteer service.

“I hope students understand that there is a community in need right outside our doors. I also want them to be touched by the agencies we help and possibly develop a desire to impact them in a greater way in the future,” Brischke said.

Senior English major Christy Schulte, who serves as assistant director for the 2008 Miss Mary Hardin-Baylor pageant, points to Reaching Out as a highlight for pageant contestants.

“Every year, they have the pageant girls come to a community service opportunity as a bonding experience, but also to say: ‘This isn’t about us. We want to reach out to the community and share the love of Jesus with others.’”

Twenty pageant participants and directors worked at the Ronald McDonald House in Temple, organizing Christmas supplies, helping clean the facilities and taking care of other time-consuming tasks.

In Belton, students volunteered at Helping Hands Ministry food pantry. Several workers helped move heavy items to the organization’s new location, while others sorted supplies for distribution.

Junior nursing major Yarickza Shirley, a Student Government Association chaplain who helped organize Reaching Out, said the best thing about volunteering was “leaving at the end of the day and, knowing that even though it was four or five hours, feeling good about yourself.”

At the Central Texas Christian School, a small group of students helped clean the school and pick up trash.

Senior Patrick McDonald said: “I get a great joy out of volunteering because there is no way anything can come back to me physically. I don’t get paid for this. I don’t get anything from this but a great joy from helping people.”