Walla Walla University partnered with Walla Walla Community College (WWCC) and Whitman College to host Tri-College Community Day on April 21, where students from all three colleges, as well as community members, came together to serve the Walla Walla Valley.
Volunteers met at Fort Walla Walla public park to check in with their project directors and share a lunch together. With access to the WWU Tool Library, each group had the necessary equipment for their project. Executive director of the WWU Center for Humanitarian Engagement (CHE), David Lopez, spoke about the importance of coming together and said, “Community to me is a verb. It’s a piece of action. We are going to go out and be the community and experience it.” WWU president John McVay emphasized the importance of service and thanked the participants for their willingness to help. He said, “If you invest even a little in service it can have a butterfly effect and make a very large, positive difference.”
WWU sophomore international communications major Julianna Tkachuck volunteered for the day, because she loves what the CHE is doing and wants to be involved. After recently returning from her time with the Adventist Colleges Abroad program she says, “I want to relearn what makes the Walla Walla community and to get involved with its needs.” The WWU Missions Club also brought their members out to the event: junior theology major and club member Curtis Morris says he decided to volunteer because he wanted to support and help the community that he has been able to be a part of throughout his college years.
With help from organizations like the U.S. Army Corp of Engineering, Fort Walla Walla Museum, Gesa Power House Theatre, the City of College Place, and others, volunteers were able to choose from 14 different service projects. Hope Heals Walla Walla sponsored a service opportunity for building care packages and sorting donations; Blue Mountain Therapeutic Riding asked for help building horse fences and cleaning up yard and pasture debris; and the Blue Mountain Action Council hosted a group who built Backpack Bridge Bags to help bridge food between school lunches on Fridays to school breakfasts on Mondays.
For more information about local service and the CHE visit wallawalla.edu/CHE.
Posted May 16, 2024.
