SERVING OTHERS
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// #MOREATDORDT
The Dordt Difference Ask a Dordt graduate about treasured college memories and you’ll likely hear about building a school in the Dominican Republic, reaching out to others on the streets of New York City, reroofing a house in Mississippi, or serving as a Big Brother or Big Sister in the local community. Thousands of Dordt College students have given countless hours to tasks like these by participating in service opportunities in the community, across the nation, and throughout the world. In fact, Dordt’s commitment to service and civic engagement has been recognized by the highest levels of the federal government, placing Dordt on the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. At the heart of these efforts lies Dordt College’s commitment to service: Learning that inspires service and service that enhances learning. This commitment plus students’ personal commitment to serving others has helped Dordt College maintain a strong tradition of volunteer service programs. PLIA (Putting Love Into Action) started in 1981 when a dozen students decided to spend their spring break volunteering at Cary Christian Health Center in Cary, Mississippi. That began a tradition of student ownership and management of these programs that has continued and expanded over the years. These and other volunteer efforts benefit the communities that students serve, but they also offer rich cross-cultural experiences and opportunities for students to learn about planning, leadership, group processes, and fundraising.
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT When people go on service trips they think “Wow, I’m really going to change someone’s life!” What a lot of people—including me—don’t realize is that the people we serve end up being the ones who impact our lives. There are so many amazing people around this world in different cultures, and I feel blessed to have been able to meet some of them and to have served them for a week. Erin Van Dyke, 2010 AMOR participant
PUTTING LOVE INTO ACTION (PLIA) Each year, Putting Love Into Action (PLIA) draws between 10 and 15 percent of Dordt’s student body. Over the years, the number of students involved has grown and so has PLIA’s geographical reach and variety of projects. PLIA teams have worked at ministry sites across the continent: West Virginia, Georgia, Montana, New Jersey, Mississippi, Colorado, Kentucky, Louisiana, Utah, New Mexico, and Ontario, Canada. Students have repaired and painted homes, cleaned up grounds and facilities, helped with childcare, and taught Bible school. While these events are primarily work trips, the students also take some time for recreation or sightseeing. PLIA participants value the social and devotional times. Students get to know each other, ministry center personnel, and the people of the community in which they work. On each site, students witness to God’s love through the work they do and the love they show. They often come back with a new perspective on poverty, social injustice, and race relations. Reuben Faber, a 2010 PLIA participant from California, said, “On PLIA you jump into a van with 10 people you may not have met before, drive half-way across the country with them, and spend almost every waking minute together for nine days. Somehow you end up sharing your deepest thoughts and growing in faith together. The people I met on PLIA showed me what it means to be completely surrendered to God’s will.”
A MISSION OUTREACH (AMOR) A Mission OutReach (AMOR) began in the 1980s to reach out by serving people outside of North America. Each year about 30 students travel to a developing country to work on building and maintenance projects, lead Bible schools, and learn about the culture and the mission challenges of the host country. Participating in the program allows students to satisfy Dordt’s cross cultural requirement. AMOR teams travel to countries like Guatemala, Nicaragua, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Belize, Jamaica, and Liberia. They participate in service projects, teach in schools, help with redevelopment, and more. Each team partners with an international nonprofit agency like the World Renew, Farmer-to-Farmer, Worldwide Christian Schools, One Body One Hope, Carribean Lifetime Ministries, or a similar organization. In recent years, AMOR has offered students the opportunity to apply their academic education to international ministry needs by using what they’ve learned about education, engineering, agriculture, business, nursing, and other fields of study. As students volunteer, leaders choose sites and develop ministry partnerships that fit how God is working in their hearts and kindling their passions to serve him at home and abroad. If you can dream it, Dordt can help provide the ministry platform from which to launch your kingdom visions and skills. “AMOR was a great experience that gave me a hunger for other cultures,” said Jane Kroese, a member of the Guatemala team. “There is such a wonderful world out there, full of interesting places and people. God has truly blessed me and the group I went with by being with us in our times of need and by keeping us safe.”
COMMUNITY OUTREACH PROGRAM (COP) Since its beginning in 1981, the Community Outreach Program (COP) has coordinated the work of hundreds of student volunteers at agencies and ministries in the Sioux Center area. About 75 students served others through COP last year. College-funded and student-run, COP gives students the opportunity to make long-term commitments to the organizations and individuals they serve. For some students, COP projects also directly support their classroom learning, as they volunteer with organizations that allow them to gain hands-on experience related to their studies. Teacher education students have worked in Head Start programs, daycare centers, preschools, or local schools; social work students get involved in a variety of social service agencies, nursing homes, and hospitals. Other programs in which COP volunteers have worked include PALS (a big brother/big sister outreach), a substance abuse center, a domestic violence intervention center, a prison, residences for persons with disabilities, and more. August 2015