A Commitment to Serve

George Fox University has long been a community that seeks to serve others in both personal ways and through more structured opportunities like our annual Serve Day. It is one of the defining characteristics of this place. And, it's one of the many reasons I am proud to work here. What I think is most impressive is that this commitment to service doesn't end when students graduate. Many of our alumni have taken up the call to love and serve their neighbors. It happens all around world, in ways that impact thousands, and in ways that touch just a few. For many alumni, this desire to serve comes from their days as students. Today, George Fox continues to send our students (and staff) out to serve. Here are several examples of the amazing things that these folks are doing.

 

Serve Trips
In the past week, the four spring Serve Trips just returned to campus from serving all around the West. They served at the Lapwai Church of God, in Lapwai, Idaho; at Flying H Ranch near Yakima, Wash.; with the Utah Partnership with Christ in Salt Lake City; and at the Dream Center in Los Angeles. To read more about the specific s of the spring Serve Trips, click here.

 

May Serve
This May a team of 20 will travel to Thailand for three weeks of ministry though service, relationships, and evangelism. The team will spend the majority of the trip working with Garden of Hope and staff members Brittany Quinn ('06) and Kelly Riechers ('07), while learning about their women and children's outreach. The team will work in small groups with the Garden of Hope staff as part of their outreach to women and teens in prostitution and to youth and children at risk in the red light areas. The last part of the trip will be with Remember Nhu, partnering with them in ministry with various hill tribe villages through VBS, clothing distribution, music, games, drama and testimonies. For more information, contact Andrea Crenshaw ('98), director of outreach and service.

 

Women's Basketball Heads to Ghana, Africa
Also in May, the George Fox women's basketball team will travel to Ghana in West Africa to construct a community basketball court. Working with the organization Courts for Kids the team will provide kids with the opportunity to play sports. During the 11-day trip, the team will work alongside local volunteers and organizations to complete the entire installation. Courts for Kids is a Vancouver, Wash.-based nonprofit organization that seeks to foster love, compassion, service, and an expanding worldview by building basketball courts in economically disadvantaged communities. To find out more about this trip, contact assistant coach Megan Dickerson.

 

These are just a few of the wonderful things our students and staff have done and are doing to impact the world. This is by no means a complete list of all the service going on through George Fox, but I find it to be quite impressive nonetheless.

 

Robby Larson
Director of Alumni Relations
rlarson@georgefox.edu