By Fabrice H. Jean-Gilles, COMM 225
With the holidays fast approaching, members of the Charleston Southern University community extended the spirit of giving by engaging with the community in various charitable efforts across campus.
For the Christmas season, CSU partnered with Operation Christmas Child, a branch of the Samaritan’s Purse Charity, to provide a Christmas for the children around the world that might not otherwise have one.
On Nov. 15, Charleston Southern students had their packing party where they filled shoe boxes with toys, toothbrushes, Bibles and other gifts and necessities.
Kevin Coriolan, student activities director at CSU, said that the initial goal was to pack 2,000 boxes, however, with “hundreds of students, faculty, staff and friends” participating, they ended up with 2,400 boxes. Coriolan said it was the largest number of boxes CSU had ever packed and a reflection of the spirit of the CSU community.
“CSU has, at its mission, a big heart for service,” he said.
While Operation Christmas Child is a prominent effort among CSU’s charitable causes, it only comes around once a year. Charleston Southern also associates itself with many other charitable organizations, specifically, the American Red Cross. Coriolan said the organization holds a blood drive once a month per semester on the North Charleston campus,or about nine times per school year.
Laura Zagby-Dye, the account manager for the Red Cross in North Charleston, helps hold blood drives on campus throughout the year and said the drives are an excellent way to engage the CSU faculty, staff and student body.
“[It is a way to] bring everyone together for the good of our community and the patients who rely on the blood supply for survival,” she said.
Zagby-Dye said hundreds of students roll up their sleeves each year to donate blood at CSU as the Red Cross routinely meets its donation goal of 50 pints per drive when they visit.
However, Zagby-Dye made it clear that there are always opportunities for students to be involved with the Red Cross.
“We need clubs and other organizations to volunteer to coordinate blood drives throughout the year,” she said. “They spread the word and recruit donors to make appointments so that each drive is a success.”
Coriolan encouraged students to get involved by joining a student organization.
“It is a great way for a bunch of people to mobilize and have an effect through community service,” he explained. “All of our student organizations do multiple service projects each semester.”
Coriolan added that students can also contact him directly if they are interested in participating or starting a charitable effort.
“I will do my best to support and help any student that really has that heart,” he said.
There are still many other organizations students can be involved in throughout the year, including the Eagle Harbor Boys Ranch and Habitat for Humanity.
Coriolan estimated that roughly 75 percent of students are involved in some kind of service learning activity throughout the year. Many charitable opportunities on campus serve as chapel credit, incentivizing students to engage so as to meet the 48 credits required to graduate. Additionally, joining any club requires that students engage in service learning activities and charitable organizations several times per semester.
For those wanting to get involved for the spring semester of 2019, contact Coriolan at kcoriolan@csuniv.edu or visit his office in the Brewer Center.
NOTE: This article was written on Nov. 26.
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