What do formal dresses, rakes and jeans all have in common? They are all being used in service projects that social clubs are doing this semester. The service directors of Iota Chi, Zeta Rho and Sigma Phi Mu have planned unique events to reach out to the community of Searcy as well as those around the world.
Iota Chi is holding a dress drive to benefit the nonprofit organization She Dances. According to its website, She Dances provides “holistic restoration for young girls who have been trafficked and sexually exploited in Honduras.”
Iota Chi had a dress drive for She Dances two years ago so sophomore service director Antasia Lewis said they wanted to try it again. According to Lewis, this is a cause that people should support because sex trafficking is a form of slavery.
“It’s not a choice for them,” Lewis said. “They’re told they’re going to have a job in another country or another city and then they get there and they’re basically brought into slavery and they’re not able to get away.”
Students can donate their gently used formal dresses from March 14 to 23 in the student center from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. On March 24, the dresses will be resold for under $100 in McInteer 253 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The newest social club on campus, Sigma Phi Mu, is starting big for its first project. Service director freshman Meagan Adkins is involved with a non-profit organization called Jeans for Jessie. Jessie passed away from cancer last year and was a friend of a friend of Adkins’.
Now, a friend of Adkins’ has been collecting jeans and other denim items, reselling them and then giving the proceeds to Children’s Medical Center in Dallas where Jessie was treated. The money is then given to families who are having trouble making ends meet because of medical bills and transportation costs.
Adkins said she wants to get Harding students and the community of Searcy involved by having the jean drive. Adkins said people should support this because all the money goes directly to families that need it and you can see the immediate effect.
“There’s something so special about knowing that what you’re doing it so immediate and it’s helping now,” Adkins said.
People can donate their gently used jeans and other denim clothing in the student center March 12 to 16. They will be resold at College Church of Christ on April 14.
Twenty-five members of Zeta Rho turned out on a Saturday morning to rake leaves on Feb. 18. One of the service directors, junior Cassie Thomasson, said they raked the yards of five widows whose names were given to them by the Rock House.
Some of the girls were even able to go into the homes and talk to the widows while others raked.
“I thought it would be a really great outreach for young girls to work with older women,” Thomasson said. “I thought we had so much to learn from them.”
