UM Freshmen Begin College
Career by Serving Others
By: Rebecca Capone

Drills whirled, clothes hangers clanked, and University of Mobile students tried on outrageous outfits all in the name of service. This was not how UM freshmen thought they would spend their first Monday morning as a college student. Several new students began their college experience by helping organize a clothes closet at Shiloh Baptist Church in Saraland, Ala., during UM’s second annual “Project Serve.”

Project Serve gives UM freshmen the opportunity to get to know each other while serving the community. Community service involvement exposes the new students to the university’s philosophy of “changing lives to change the world.”

Project Serve organizer and UM student Matt Davis said the event is a good part of UM freshman orientation because “it opens their eyes to places the students might not know exist where they might feel led to serve and help out on a regular basis.

“It also helps reinforce early on a servant-like attitude, that as Christians we desire to follow,” Davis, a sophomore from Collierville, Tenn., added.

Shiloh Baptist Church was one of many sites where UM freshmen worked during Project Serve. Other sites included Mobile Botanical Gardens, Bay Area Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity, and Home of Grace.

At Mobile Botanical Gardens in Mobile, students cleared hurricane debris and hauled full loads of gravel and debris in wheelbarrows. “No pain, no gain,” a couple of students joked while taking a break from their work. Meghan Bishop of Cullman, Ala., raked debris and commented, “I’m here not only to get an education, but to serve God and to serve other people.”

Jamie Taylor, Charity Williams and Len Tinnell, all of Shiloh Baptist Church, guided the UM students in the organizing and building projects for the clothes closet.

Taylor, Shiloh’s college and youth minister, said this opportunity will set a precedent for the students involved to continue ministry.

“They can get a lot out of their college career by feeling like they are giving to the community,” Taylor said, adding that many UM students are also church members.

“Having college students attend our church has affected our church and changed it completely,” Taylor said, noting that the students have raised the excitement level and have been an inspiration to many other church members.

UM students took a break from their work and tried on different clothing, poking fun at each other’s attire. Freshman Joshua Miller of Alexandria, Ala., diligently built clothes racks after instructions from Shiloh Baptist church member Len Tinnell. Miller, a Christian Studies major, said he has always been interested in missions and helping people.

“Project Serve shows what the school is about; changing lives,” Miller said.

Other UM freshmen, Ashley Hughes of Cyprus and Andrew Goodwin of Birmingham, Ala., helped the church by checking clothes for quality and sorting them into categories by styles and sizes. Hughes said, “This is a great way to spend my time today.”

Project Serve not only benefited the community but students as well. Many students returned to campus Monday afternoon with an excitement and stories of what they had done, and a longing to go back and serve more.

(Story by UM Public Relations Writer Rebecca Capone, a sophomore majoring in communication at the University of Mobile.)