Saturday morning, Sept. 22, the brothers of Lambda Chi Alpha (LCA) cleaned Harriman Highway, a road dedicated to Dr. Richard Harriman, that runs along the east side of William Jewell College.
Lambda Chi is highly excited to be afforded such an opportunity. Chris Seward spoke to the Monitor about LCA’s care for the road.
“We are responsible for cleaning it a minimum of a few times a year. It’s nice because the city provides us with the proper safety equipment needed. We’re just making the highway look presentable and maintaining it throughout the year,” Seward said.
As the first organization to volunteer for Liberty’s Adopt-a-Street program, LCA hopes that by cleaning the road they will not only better the community, but also grow as a brotherhood.
“We are adopting Harriman Highway in honor or Dr. Richard Harriman. He played a pivotal role in our fraternity and William Jewell itself. We’re trying to find more ways to be involved in our community,” Chris Seward explained. “What more perfect way than to honor someone who played such an important role to William Jewell.”
Richard Harriman holds a special place in the hearts of Lambda Chi, Jewell faculty and students alike. Born 1932, Dr. Harriman was a professor at William Jewell and dedicated most of his adult life to thousands of students – especially Lambda Chi as their advisor and mentor.
Lambda Chi Alpha is no stranger to volunteer work and participates in many events that give back to the community.
“LCA just recently had our watermelon bust at William Jewell and this year we actually raised $1,000, netting $550 towards philanthropy,” Seward said. “In addition to that, we do canned food drives. Our Philanthropy is Feeding America so we work very closely with Harvesters.”
Harvesters and Feeding America are volunteer programs that gather and distribute food to those less fortunate.
“We do canned food drives and try to do as much as we can. Next fall we’re actually doing a service project for Liberty United Methodist Church building a track for their playground.” said Seward.
Other community service events include volunteer work with the Jewish Vocational Service, various nursing homes and Love, inc., a local organization that partners with churches to help people with “material, emotional or relational poverty.”
Chris Seward, along with many other brothers of Lambda Chi Alpha, appreciates the opportunity to adopt Harriman Highway and looks forward to future volunteering work.
Photos courtesy of Josiah Williams.