As the late September morning breeze swept over their campus, about 1,200 students, faculty and staff gathered in front of J.L. Bedsole Library at the University of Mobile (UMobile). Wearing maroon T-shirts bearing the words “Project Serve” over an outline of the city of Mobile skyline, they heard university President Mark Foley give them the theme for their fourth annual day of service. This year the effort reached 65 sites across a two-county area.
“You are an agent of love. You are going to be touching people,” Foley said. “This is also about what happens in you, not just what happens through you.”
Since its inception in 2011, Project Serve has impacted businesses, schools, health-care facilities, municipal grounds and countless individuals.
One group made up of the UMobile tennis team and Coach Uwe Tittle visited several fourth-grade classrooms at Dodge Elementary School in Mobile to demonstrate how force and motion are used in tennis.
Across town, the hallways of Ella Grant Elementary School in Prichard were filled with more than 60 student volunteers. They put up colorful bulletin boards, organized closets, read to students, inventoried old computers, painted bathrooms and cut grass.
Interim principal Hannah Hart said fifth graders attended a morning assembly where volunteers talked about the types of careers they were preparing for and the hard work and determination it took to succeed. The UMobile students shared the importance of making good grades throughout school.
“I love the partnership,” Hart said. “It gives our kids something to aspire to. I am also impressed with the level of service the college students are giving.”
Foley and about 75 students and professors in the School of Christian Ministries volunteered at Mobile Municipal Park to paint signs and playground equipment and to mark distance on a walking trail.
Doug Wilson, dean of the School of Christian Ministries, said, “Jesus tells us in Mark 10, ‘I have not come to be served, but to serve.’ As followers of Christ we want to serve others as well, not just in the church building but also in the community.”
Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson joined Foley and volunteers as they scraped rust off playground equipment and coated it with red paint. Donning a Project Serve T-shirt, Stimpson thanked the volunteers for their service.
“Project Serve sets a marker for all of our citizens to realize they too can participate and help in making our community a better place to live,” Stimpson said. “We really, really appreciate them being out here.”
Other teams volunteered at locations including Little Sisters of the Poor assisted living facility, the Alabama Regional School for the Deaf and Blind and the William F. Green Veteran’s Home.
Students at UMobile take advantage of Project Serve to get involved in their communities. Many see it as chance for personal growth as well.
John Craft, a senior theology major from Birmingham, said he has participated in Project Serve all four years. “This brings us together as students, as friends and as family,” Craft said. Working side-by-side creates a special bond within the UMobile community, setting the stage “so we can do ministry further in life together.”
Foley added, “The University of Mobile mission of ‘Changing Lives to Change the World’ isn’t about education alone — it’s about transforming the nation by meeting both spiritual and physical needs of people. Through Project Serve, the University of Mobile impacts thousands of lives by being the hands and feet of the gospel of Christ throughout the community.” (UMobile)
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