Community service is an essential aspect of every Wittenberg University student’s educational experience. To connect students with the Springfield community and the Springfield Promise Neighborhood, Wittenberg’s Community Service Program has scheduled a Day of Promise service event for Saturday, Sept. 14.
About 40 students and student coordinators from the Community Service Program will work at locations throughout the Springfield Promise Neighborhood, the area surrounding Lincoln Elementary in the Springfield City School District, from 1:30-4:30 p.m.
Students will work at five different sites to facilitate a block party, beautify and clean up the neighborhood, revitalize two community gardens, make crafts with students at the Lincoln Park Community Center and set up for a community talent show that will follow the Day of Promise programs.
“We decided to do this again because last year’s inauguration service project was so successful. Students are eager to be a part of the Promise Neighborhood. After we went live with registration, all of the spots were taken within a few hours,” said Director of Community Service Kristen Collier, Wittenberg class of 1992.
The Day of Promise is a partnership between Wittenberg’s Community Service Program and the Springfield Promise Neighborhood, a comprehensive, collaborative commitment to ensuring that children succeed academically. The Promise Neighborhood was inspired by New York-based social activist and educator Geoffrey Canada, who created the Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) in New York City.
To find out more about the Springfield Promise Neighborhood, visit www.springfieldpromise.com.
Wittenberg students annually contribute more than 20,000 hours of community service, which translates into more than $380,000 in donated time to the Greater Springfield area.
In recent years, other service and service-learning opportunities at Wittenberg have included building earthquake-resistant homes in El Salvador, constructing playgrounds for orphanages in the southern African Kingdom of Lesotho, and working in high-need areas such as the Mississippi Delta during alternative spring break service immersion trips.
Wittenberg’s community engagement efforts have been recognized nationally for five consecutive years, 2006-2010, and again in 2012, on the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for exemplary service efforts.
For more information about Wittenberg’s community service opportunities, visit the Susan Hirt Hagen Center for Civic and Urban Engagement at 723 N. Fountain or call (937) 327-7523.
