Despite busy days filled with final exams and essays, the Notre Dame Right to Life Club is working to spread unconditional love through its “YOU ARE LOVED” campaign.
Senior club president Janelle Wanzek said in an email that her and Right to Life secretary junior Aly Cox's experiences with Summer Service Learning Programs (SSLPs) inspired the campaign, which aims to share love with the entire community.
“We both worked at disability homes, we learned from the residents that loving unconditionally is the purest, most genuine love,” she said. “We had been trying to brainstorm ways to share this idea of unconditional love with the student body, then a friend of the Right to Life Club suggested we do an event for foster kids. Thus, the first event of the week was born — making care backpacks for children being placed into foster care. The backpacks will include stuffed animals, coloring books, fleece blankets and a note from the students who put them together with the you are loved picture.”
Other events for the week include tutoring South Bend children with Slice of Life, participating in discussions on climate change with GreeND and Ugly Christmas Sweater Spirit Day, sponsored by the Junior Class Council. Wanzek said the Right to Life officers realized "almost every club here at Notre Dame is in someway telling some group of people that they are loved.” More than 20 University clubs have joined the campaign.
“This is why we created a week where all the student groups can pitch in and host their own events,” she said. “Meanwhile, on the Facebook page, we are featuring the clubs that have reached out to us, ‘Humans of New York’-style.”
The campaign fits into the Right to Life mission of respecting life from conception to natural death, she said.
“... We are telling all groups of life, that no matter what their circumstance, that they are loved,” she said.
Wanzek said feedback for the campaign has so far been positive.
“I am amazed at how great the responses have been for this week so far, and this is only the first year,” she said. “I can't wait to come back after graduation and see how much it has grown.”
