On April 13, faculty, staff and students at Hardin-Simmons University had the opportunity to serve the community of Abilene in the first “Serve Like Simmons.” The HSU family served at many different locations and was truly blessed to be able to spread the love of Christ to the community.
Isaac Cervantes is the Student Success Coach here at Hardin-Simmons, and helped facilitate the event. According to Cervantes, “We served with four different organizations in Abilene. We worked with Big Brothers Big Sisters Abilene, Food Bank of West Central Texas, Salvation Army Abilene and Boots on the Ground.”
With so many different locations, the HSU family had a wide variety of ways to serve as each location had different needs. “Our Boots on the Ground group built a ramp for an elderly person in the community. Our Salvation Army group went to the Salvation Army and helped organize and clean their building. Our Food Bank group did the same at the Food Bank. Our Big Brothers Big Sisters group went to their building and washed windows and took out the trash for them,” Cervantes said.
Andrea Ashburn is a junior exercise science, pre physical therapy major from McAllen, and was one of the students who participated in “Serve Like Simmons.” According to Ashburn, “I helped at Big Brothers Big Sisters and we cleaned the windows and took out the trash for the employees who work so hard to match the kids.”
“Serve Like Simmons” was a huge success and it would not have been possible without the help of amazing volunteers. As time goes on and we continue with our daily lives, it is a good reminder that there are people in need all around us, and there does not need to be a set “service day” in order to be able to serve the community. It is in events like these where we become encouraged to serve whenever and wherever there is a need. So moving forward, I encourage you to ponder the ways that you can serve those around you.