For many, the holiday season is not only a time to celebrate but also a time to give back. At the U, it’s no different. Students across campus are serving communities in more ways than one.
For example, sophomore and biomedical engineering student TJ Roskelly has volunteered in projects both on and off campus. He said he thinks it is important to serve others because serving doesn’t only impact the recipient but it also impacts the volunteer.
“I felt better when I served,” Roskelly said.
One of Roskelly’s past projects was helping the Bennion Center take extra food from the Kalhert, Lassonde and Peterson Heritage Center dining halls to homeless shelters in Salt Lake.
“I didn’t really get to see the people that received that food very often, but it made me feel good that I was making their lives better,” Roskelly said. “Now I try to give back to homeless people whenever I see homeless people.”
Participating in service through the Bennion Center is an easy way to give back to the community year-round. The center has drop-in service projects available for anyone to pick up according to their schedules. It also helps connect those looking to volunteer to opportunities around Salt Lake City. Students can propose their own semester-based project ideas, too.
Megan Farnsworth, a sophomore and biology student at the U, took it upon herself this November to establish her own service project in the U’s community.
Farnsworth currently works in the labor and delivery unit at the University of Utah Hospital on campus. One of her tasks is to make baskets for families who have lost babies. For the month of November, Farnsworth has collected items like baby clothing, stuffed animals and other small items that can serve as mementos for families who have lost little ones.
“I’m doing this service project because I saw a need. Lately, every time I go to make a box, there’s hardly anything to put in them. I wanted to change that, because no family should have to take home the bottom-of-the-barrel leftovers because that’s all we had,” Farnsworth said. “Families will have more than just whatever we can scrape together to remember their baby.”
Through her project, Farnsworth said she’s felt a sense of purpose. She said others can create their own projects just by observing what’s around them.
“Service is important to me because it gives a sense of purpose and it’s so rewarding to know that you are helping people,” Farnsworth said. “More students can get involved by simply paying attention to things around them that they think should change, and then doing something about it.”
However, service doesn’t just take the form of long projects. Freshman Hunter Knapp, who is studying biochemistry, thinks that service is important no matter how big or small. The amount of people it reaches is what matters.
“Service spreads happiness, it’s like a ripple effect,” Knapp said. “Once you serve someone, they will try and serve another. Eventually it reaches everybody, and the whole world is a better place and people are happier.”
Knapp has also participated in HXP service trips to Malawi and Indonesia. HXP is a non-profit that takes volunteers to underserved communities around the world to help build necessary infrastructure. During Knapp’s trip, he helped build a school and other learning centers.
But, Knapp said they were able to serve the community beyond constructing the school. Sometimes it was as simple as giving someone a smile.
“The impact I saw was how happy the people of Indonesia and Malawi were, not just for our service but to be there smiling everyday,” Knapp said. “We impacted them far beyond what we thought our service was.”
