Hope Serves the greater Holland community

STUDENTS TAKE ON THE TASK OF GIVING BACK — On Hope College’s annual spring day of service, students serve the Holland/Zeeland community in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Sophia Vander Kooy)

This past weekend more than 200 students gave up their precious weekend sleep catch up to directly serve the Holland and Zeeland community for Hope College’s annual Hope Serves. On Saturday morning, students were sent to one of 15 locations, including the Holland Rescue Mission, La Casa de Mi Padre Church, South Shore Youth Impact, Ditto Upscale Resale, Appledorn Assisted Living, Renew Therapeutic Riding and The Critter Barn.

According to one of Hope’s student Volunteer Services Directors, Taylor Lombard (’20), students participated in a wide variety of activities such as visiting members of the different communities, painting, cleaning barns and organizing supplies.

In a recent interview, Lombard made sure to extend credit to her co-director, Haley Margason (’18) and their faculty supervisor, Katie DeKoster.

The trio worked together to plan the event alongside other campus leaders such  as the Multicultural Student Organization (MSO) including Yordanos Dessie (’19) of the Black Student Union (BSU), Jocelyn Gallegos of the Latino  Student Organization (LSO) and Derek Li (’18) of Hope’s Asian Perspective Association (HAPA).

Through Lombard and  Margason’s leadership, the groups were able to stand on the common ground of service and lift the community to a higher standard of giving.

Lombard explained that her favorite part of the day was simply taking time to appreciate the amazing devotion of Hope students and the open arms of the community they reside in.

She noted that the event, filled her with, “joy and appreciation for the students of Hope College!” The rest of the weekend brought time for reflection on the event and an opportunity to look to the future.

Lombard shares that she hopes to see the event continue to grow in size and outreach as more students dive into the joy of service. In her own words, “I am eager to see how this event will inspire students to serve, and I am hopeful they will contact Haley and I so we may help coordinate volunteer opportunities for individuals and/or groups looking to give back to the surrounding community.”

Although Hope Serves happens every year, Lombard sees it as a starting ground for more service opportunities to bloom.