A core value of a Saint Mary's education is justice through service and compassion towards others. This year, a group of Belles have chosen to live out this part of the College's mission by creating Sisterhood of Service, a new club designed for those who want to participate in service opportunities.
Saint Mary's junior and president of the club Megan Anderson explained her motivation for creating the service organization.
“I started the club over the summer with a group of girls from Saint Mary's who I thought shared my interest in developing a club that focused on volunteer and service projects within South Bend and tri-campus communities,” she said in an email.
Anderson described the objectives of the club, citing the group's desire to help the surrounding community and empower students to positively use their talents.
“[Sisterhood of Service] aims to provide assistance to the surrounding South Bend community while focusing on ways to serve the tri-campus community,” she said. “It was created to encourage women to use the skills and talents they were given to help others in creative and exciting ways.”
Saint Mary's senior and social media chair Molly Cutter said she welcomes any students who want to join the club to participate in service opportunities.
“We wanted anyone at Saint Mary's to have an opportunity to join us in serving the local community in our free time,” she said.
Cutter said she hopes that members of Sisterhood of Service will be united by their common interest to serve others.
“We are hoping to gain membership through exciting activities and volunteer opportunities,” she added. “We hope to provide underclassmen who may be seeking out opportunities to serve and gain fellowship [by being] a part of an exciting club.”
Anderson and the club's leadership board are planning a variety of on-campus events for students to participate in.
“We are planning on having events with the Sisters of the Holy Cross, making tie blankets, creating health kits, hosting school supply drives and contacting outside organizations to see how we can provide assistance to them during this time,” Anderson said.
Cutter said the club's events will remain socially distanced for the time being due to COVID-19 restrictions.
“We will have to start the year off serving while following social distancing guidelines,” Cutter said. “This means that we will be engaging in activities on campus such as providing members with tie blanket materials that they can bring back to their rooms and then send back to us to be delivered to a hospice center or a hospital.”
Anderson said she is optimistic about the club's impact in the community, despite the continuing pandemic.
“Our plans have changed due to the coronavirus, but that will not prevent us from helping those in the community,” she said. “We are focusing on doing service projects that we can drop off at local organizations until the coronavirus restrictions are lifted. Once they are lifted, we look forward to venturing out into the community, partnering with organizations and creating personal relations with others.”
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