Nearly 130 students participated in “Make A Difference Day” on Oct. 26.

The students  gave back not only to the campus, but also to the surrounding McMinnville Community.

“‘Make a Difference Day’ is a national day of service so, not only are we [Linfield] serving on that Saturday, but millions around the nation are also serving,” senior Shelby Hollenbeck said by email.

Hollenbeck is the Days of Service Student Coordinator for Linfield’s Change Corps.

“That is one of the biggest differences, its not just a Linfield created service day, but a very large national service day that has been occurring for over 20 years,” Hollenbeck said in an email.

Students were able to serve at one of 15 sites.

The sites included: the McMinnville Downtown Association; the Co-op Saturday Morning Breakfast; Homeward Bound Thrift Store; the Linfield Garden; Homeward Bound Animal Shelter; Sheridan Prairie Restoration Project; St. Vincent de Paul; Senior Center; Hearthland; GYSD Watershed; the Yamhill Gospel Mission; YCAP; Juliette’s House; First Baptist Church; and Habitat ReStore.

“‘Make A Difference Day’ is another great indicator of the involvement and commitment to service that many of the students at Linfield have,” Hollenbeck said in an email.

“It’s great to see students wanting to serve and utilizing the Change Corps. One of our ultimate goals is to connect students to service opportunities in a meaningful way and ‘Make A Difference Day’ was really able to do that,” Hollenbeck wrote.

“I enjoyed being a part of a nationwide service event and seeing the impact Linfield has on the McMinnville Community,” junior Ben Berthold said in a text message.

Berthold served at the First Baptist Church. Along with other volunteers from the pre-nursing club, Berthold washed windows and tidied up the grounds for the changing seasons.

The next planned service day will happen in February. The event is named “MLK Service Day” in honor of the national MLK Day of Service.

“We [Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity] find it extremely important to help the community. Helping out at events like ‘Make A Difference Day’ is a great representation of our organization,” junior Michael Swain said in a text message.

Ryan Morgan / Senior Reporter

Ryan Morgan can be reached at [email protected].