A new club on campus hopes to reach out to reach out to the Searcy community through volunteer service. The Social Work Club was chartered in February and hopes to involve Harding students in its efforts to combat social injustices and raise awareness of various causes.
“I know there is a lot of volunteer work done, but there are so many things that are overlooked,” senior Katie Davis, vice president of the social work club, said. “We want this to be something that the whole campus is about.”
Junior Tatum Owens, president of the social work club, said she learned of a previous social work club on campus and was approached by students to reboot it. According to Owens, a group of social work majors started finding sponsors and meeting with deans to discuss chartering the club last spring.
According to Owens, the club has approximately 30 members and hosted its first official event Feb. 24. The members of the club participated in the End It Movement, which included marking a red “X” on students’ hands in the student center to spread awareness of human trafficking. Owens said she wants the club to get involved and spread awareness of programs in and around Searcy that people may not know about.
“I feel like, as a Christian, (social work is) a good mission field because you are giving people the help that they need,” Owens said. “I chose (social work) because it is a good way to help people.”
According to Davis, the social work club offers social work majors the opportunity to explore different paths to take with their degree by interacting with a variety of people and participation in community outreach programs.
Senior April DeVore, secretary of the social work club, said the members follow the club motto, “a voice for the voiceless,” which refers to Proverbs 31:8.
“There are so many people who don’t have a voice or no one to stand up for them, and I wanted to be able to do that for them,” DeVore said. “I think everyone deserves an advocate no matter what their gender is or sexual orientation or religion.”
The social work club is open to people of all majors. The next meeting is Tuesday, March 22 at 7 p.m. in Ezell 207. For more information, contact Owens at towens2@harding.edu.
