Ringing bells for Christmas
Liberty’s Rotaract Club helps serve the community throughout the season
With the holiday season around the corner, bell ringers for the Salvation Army are out in full force.
This year, some members of the Liberty University Rotaract Club will be among them.
Volunteer — Equipped with red bells and buckets, Liberty’s Rotaract club is participating with the Salvation Army this Christmas. Photo credit: Leah Seavers
According to Grace Vohden, a junior at Liberty and founder of Liberty’s chapter of Rotaract, serving with the Salvation Army is the club’s main focus for the Christmas season.
“The Salvation Army doesn’t have many volunteers right now, so we’re trying to make sure every bell has a man there and gets the attention it needs,” Vohden said. “We’re also doing a lot of phone calls to find people who would be willing to ring bells.”
In addition to participating in the bell drive, members of Liberty’s Rotaract Club serve dinner at the soup kitchen run by the Salvation Army the third Thursday of every month, and they also pick up donated bread and take it to the soup kitchen. Recently, the club packaged meals at the Lynchburg plant of the “Stop Hunger Now” organization, which distributes meals to those in need.
“We have a lot of bread donations, so we need people to drive to those places, pick it up on Tuesday mornings, and bring it to the soup kitchen,” Vohden said.
According to Vohden, bread is donated by the Food Lion on Memorial Avenue as well as Panera and Starbucks on Wards Road.
Although Liberty’s Rotaract Club only has three members, Vohden is hopeful it will continue to grow. She said she met more Liberty students while volunteering with “Stop Hunger Now” who seemed very interested in joining the club. Students can also earn Christian/Community Service (CSER) credit for volunteering with the club.
“I’m looking for more people to liven up my group,” Vohden said. “If we had more people, we could get involved in more projects. If someone wanted to help out at the Daily Bread or United Way for example, that would be great.”
Vohden started Liberty’s chapter of Rotaract during her freshman year. She was part of a local Rotary Club along with her mom when the club suggested she start a chapter of Rotaract at Liberty.
According to Vohden, Rotaract is the college version of a Rotary Club. According to the Rotary’s website, rotary.org, Rotaract clubs are for adults ages 18-30 whose purpose is to “exchange ideas, plan activities and projects and socialize.” Local rotary clubs sponsor them, but it is up to each Rotaract chapter to decide how they want to be run and which service projects to perform.
Vohden chose to work with the Salvation Army because of the connections she has within the organization.
“My mom works there, and her being there made me want to help out there even more,” Vohden said.
According to Vohden, running the club taught her several life lessons.
“It gives me responsibility and helps me practice my leadership skills,” Vohden said. “It’s very rewarding to put an event together and see the outcome. It makes me stand back and say, ‘Wow, I can’t believe I did that. Maybe I should do more.’”
More importantly, Vohden has seen firsthand the effect of helping others.
“I see this little picture become a lot bigger and affect more people,” Vohden said. “I look at all the people these events help and I ask myself, ‘What can I do more of? How can I help more people?’”
For more information on Liberty’s chapter of Rotaract, contact Vohden at gvohden@liberty.edu.
MAURER is a feature reporter.