First-year Palm Beach Atlantic University students Lisa Kristofik and Courtney Houston braved the South Florida heat on the Saturday before classes began to plant flowers outside a women’s shelter in Riviera Beach.
The project, which united new students from the fourth floor of both the Johnson and Rinker residence halls, involved landscaping, beautifying a playground, organizing linen closets and performing other tasks for Operation Hope, which runs the emergency housing complex for women and children on Old Dixie Highway as well as one in West Palm Beach for homeless men.
“It’s more fun getting to know people while helping people,” said Kristofik, 17, an elementary education major from Rhinebeck, N.Y.
The two were among more than 500 incoming freshmen, transfer students and campus leaders who took part in service projects across Palm Beach County on Saturday.
The Welcome Week tradition kicked off this year’s Workship program, the university’s community service initiative, in which undergraduates perform at least 45 hours of community service each year. Many students go on to volunteer additional service hours beyond the minimum requirement, school officials said.
“They get a good first experience of doing their Workship hours together,” said Carrie Bauckman, the university’s Workship director. During the clean-up, students at the Operation Hope
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| New students, from left, Erin Maxwell, Rachel Bradley and Melissa Zeigler wash windows outside a cottage at Place of Hope in Palm Beach Gardens. |
“This is part of our community,” Adames said. “This helps us to meet our neighbors and find out what the needs are.”
Ken Bowers, Operation Hope’s executive director, said the extra manpower made a huge difference at the residential complex, home to more than a dozen women and their children.
“They’re doing an overhaul,” Bowers said. “They’re giving the place a nice look.”
A few miles to the north, PBA students did interior and exterior cleaning at six cottages at Place of Hope in Palm Beach Gardens. The faith-based agency provides a variety of child welfare services, including family-style foster care for children. As Melissa Zeigler, 20, washed windows outside a cottage, she hoped her efforts would ease some of the burden for the house parents.
“It feels good to help them with the stuff they can’t do because they’re so busy,” said Zeigler, a junior who is majoring in marketing.
House parent Sarah Tountas said she greatly appreciated the students’ help with the dusting and scrubbing. Along with her husband, Tountas is caring for five boys between the ages 11 and 15, all of whom perform weekly chores. However, “I think a deep cleaning now and then is very nice,” she said.
In West Palm Beach, another group of PBA students played games, did face-painting and helped distribute school supplies to neighborhood children during a block party
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| New students jump rope with neighborhood children on Saturday during a block party sponsored by Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church in West Palm Beach. |
Kevin Jones, the church’s minister for youth and young adults, was pleased to see the students’ interaction with the children, many of whom were from the inner-city areas surrounding the church.
“It’s just a joy to see true community come together,” Jones said. “It’s neat to see how they’re building community and touching the community with the love of Jesus.”
Saturday’s other community service locations included a Habitat for Humanity construction site in Jupiter; Real Life Children’s Ranch, a foster-care organization in Okeechobee; Vickers House South, a home for low-income elderly residents in West Palm Beach; The Lord’s Place, a Boynton Beach organization that serves the homeless; and Pine Jog Environmental Education Center in suburban West Palm Beach.
For Houston, a first-year graphic design student from Tampa assigned to the Operation Hope site, the work was well worth the effort. “It feels good seeing all the change it’s making,” she said.