Service: the act of helping others.

Linfield certainly does its part to help others through organizations like Greek life, clubs such as Circle K, and campus events like Taste of Service.

Planning and organizing community service events takes more work than most people realize. It’s all about making and keeping connections.

Fraternities

Fraternities as a whole contribute a great deal of service to the Linfield and McMinnville community. Pi Kappa Alpha’s Community Service Chair, sophomore Conner Pope, has many responsibilities in setting up service opportunities for his fraternity.

“This year and last year we’ve been a part of helping local elementary schools with field days and fair, helping local farms with various jobs, working at an animal shelter and participating in every event put on by Linfield Community Engagement,” Pope said.

Currently, Pike has a community service event planned with Sigma Kappa Phi to volunteer at a local animal shelter.

“We’re working on finding a day to serve at a farm with Phi Sigma Sigma,” Pope said.

Pike also makes a point to participate in campus-wide service events such as Taste of Service and Global Youth Service Day.

Last year, Pike received an award from Linfield Community Engagement for “Student organization with the most hours of community service.”

Pike members feel a strong sense of accomplishment after every project or service event they participate in.

“It’s a special feeling coming together with brothers to help somebody out, working as a team and seeing progress as we return to certain sites,” Pope said.

Pope is proud of his brothers for making a name for Pike’s community service.

“It feels so good to hear such kind words from community members telling me how much they appreciate the students of Linfield and the guys in the chapter,” Pope said.

Pope would like to see Greek life as a whole do something special in the community and expect nothing in return.

“If out chapter gets such a rush from helping out for a few hours, I couldn’t imagine the feeling between all the chapters together working on one project and saving the community a lot of time and effort,” Pope said.

Sororities

Sophomore Allison Burke is the Director of community service for Alpha Phi, and she is mainly in charge of seeking out, organizing, and communicating opportunities for her sisters to serve both on and off the Linfield campus and in the greater McMinnville area.

“I do this through keeping in contact with various Linfield and McMinnville organizations who are in need of volunteers throughout the year,” Burke said.

Alpha Phi also does seasonal volunteer work and projects that include donation drives to contribute items and money to various causes.

Alpha Phi volunteers at a wide variety of projects throughout the year.

“From sisters volunteering to help at various campus events like the Pi Day Run and the McMinnville Heart Chase Scavenger Hunt, which relates to our philanthropy, Women’s Heart Health, to joining with the Linfield community for Days of Service, we try and integrate plenty of opportunities for our sisters to make a positive difference,” Burke said.

Alpha Phi also serves Saturday morning breakfast at the McMinnville Co-Op, makes food boxes for community members at YCAP, and gives out backpacks of meals to local elementary school students to help feed their families when there is limited food resources over the weekend.

“We are always on the lookout for new opportunities and organizations to partner with and we are looking forward to some new activities this year,” said Burke.

Alpha Phi pairs with the Kappa Sigma fraternity every fall for one of their favorite community service events – bowling with Special Olympics.

“I love seeing how enthusiastic our sisters are about pairing up to go over and make a difference in the lives of some of our community members,” Burke said.

Some Alpha Phi sisters even come back year after year and specifically ask to volunteer with the same person that they bowled with before.

“That’s what I love the most – besides making a difference with giving time to service, we develop meaningful personal relationships with those we give our time to and we come away with greater perspective and appreciation,” Burke said.

As a chapter, Alpha Phi donated approximately 200 hours this past spring 2014 semester to Alpha Phi specific events. That number does not account for all the service members gave during the year individually to other organizations and clubs on and off campus.

“It is my hope that the sisters of Alpha Phi represent Linfield College and Greek Life well in the community and recognize the need for volunteers in our community but also let McMinnville know that we are here to serve,” Burke said.

Taste of Service

Taste of Service is an opportunity for Linfield students to get out in the community with their peers, break free of the “Linfield bubble” and help those in need.

Sophomore Alyssa Kaplan is the director of service and special events on a team called Change Corps and is responsible for planning and executing four service days throughout the year.

Over 90 students participated in Taste of Service this year. Different groups went to service sites including Barbara Boyer’s Farm, Homeward Bound Pets, Miller Woods, and the Yamhill County Gospel Rescue Mission.

“The Office of Community Engagement and Service has a huge list of community partners in McMinnville and Yamhill County,” Kaplan said. “I worked to find a large variety of places that people could go to to perform service in the area.”

The Taste of Service slogan this year was, “An opportunity to become involved in your community while meeting new Wildcats and having fun.”

“It not only showed Linfield students that they can get involved in the community, but it showed community partners that Linfield students want to get involved in the community,” Kaplan said.

Kaplan feels that the event was an overall success and made a positive difference in the community.

“People had a very good time and some want to go back to their service site again,” Kaplan said. “I want more people to come and see how much fun service can be.”

Circle K

Sophomore Kassandra Russell is the current president of Linfield’s Circle K International club.

“A few of out previous/ongoing projects include a monthly soup kitchen night with our local Kiwanis club, a monthly Saturday morning breakfast, semester beach clean-ups, supply drives for local organizations, Trick-or-Canning for YCAP, bonfire fundraisers, holiday gram fundraisers, and just general volunteering when it is needed in the McMinnville community,” Russell said.

As a club, Circle K donated about 60 hours worth of projects that members can participate in per semester.

“I think that Circle K’s community service has made a difference in our community because we always have some project in the works to give back,” Russell said. “Our club is full of members who genuinely love to help people.”

By combining regular and one-time service projects, Circle K is able to reach out and help various areas of the McMinnville community at all times of the year and in a variety of ways.

“Even though most people still confuse out club name with the gas station, our members love spreading the word about our club’s service and telling people just exactly what we do,” Russell said.

Circle K’s three tenants are fellowship, leadership and service and they try to bring all of those aspects into everything that they do.

“Our club tries really hard to do projects that our members are passionate about and by doing so we have a strong dedication level to the service projects that we participate in,” Russell said.