This winter break, riding in the back of a pickup truck along a bumpy mountain road in Honduras, a small team of Wash. U. students visited the home of a victim of yellow fever. An old woman had come into the village to get medication for her son, and we decided to send a group to her home to see the conditions for ourselves.

It takes a village to raise a child. Few students at Washington University are children, but we depend on resources like the Writing Center and Student Financial Services. Unfortunately, children of the poorer St. Louis school districts lack access to an adequate education.

This week, students will celebrate the man behind Washington University’s name with a series of service-related events sponsored by Lock & Chain sophomore honorary. In memory of Washington, who would turn 279 on Tuesday, Lock & Chain will host events focused on engaging students in community service efforts.

When senior Paul Johannet received a grant from the Community Service Office in the fall of 2008 to help start an organization that would help kids in the local area with their academic studies, he never imagined it would grow into the program it has become today.
Books and Basketball, a non-profit organization that travels to several schools around the local St. Louis area to help tutor and play recreational games with students, has become extremely popular within the Washington University community.

So the idea to design and build four doghouses to auction off to the public in order to raise money for Fred’s treatment was born. Working with the Wash. U. students was one aspect of community collaboration that resulted from this project. This project helped form a connection between the University and the nearby Kinloch Learning Center.

A new Student Union initiative, Engage 360, aims to increase engagement between the St. Louis area and Washington University by developing long-term relationships with community leaders. The initiative hopes to partner community members, service organizations, students, faculty, staff and alumni.

Tomorrow’s blood drive, and the “I Donated” stickers that will proliferate on students’ T-shirts across campus, mark an honorable occasion. Blood banks are as vital as they are under-resourced, and the University is right to give blood drives its full-throated support. Moreover, the University’s contribution to the blood supply is exemplary.

A few days ago, while fulfilling my mandatory daily quota of procrastination courtesy of Facebook, I came across an event entitled “One Day without Shoes.” Intrigued, I clicked “attending” and waited for the event page to load. I’m a sucker for ostensibly hippy happenings, and this event had “Stick It to the Bourgeois Footwear-Donning Establishment” written all over it—or so I thought.

Washington University students and members of the local community will take part in the Take Steps for Kids 5K Run/Walk around campus this Sunday.

Although Washington University’s Dance Marathon falls on the same weekend as Parent & Family Weekend this year, the campus-wide community service event boasts the most registered participants in its 10-year history.