Wednesday, April 10, several students of William Jewell College and community members gathered in Gano Assembly for chapel – but they did not sit down. Instead, attendees gathered around a Labyrinth design that was printed on a large circular canvas.

Jeff Buscher, college chaplain, spoke about Labyrinths and their variety of uses. Labyrinths are unlike a maze because they only have one path available. They are not meant to be a mental challenge, but rather a way for people to meditate, pray or think through problems as they walk to the center and back out.  

“Thinking is not required to walk a Labyrinth. At the same time, one must remain alert to stay on the path. This combination of reduced mental activity and heightened awareness makes the Labyrinth ideal for walking meditation or prayer,” a passage of an event handout said.

The Labyrinth was rented from Relax4Life and remained available for student use throughout the remainder of the week. Buscher encouraged students to come back to the labyrinth alone and to use it to help themselves relax and clear their minds. He imagines that one day, a permanent Labyrinth could be installed on William Jewell’s campus.

After Buscher explained the history and uses of the Labyrinth, several attendees removed their shoes and followed the path of the Labyrinth. The Labyrinth gives the walker the freedom to contemplate whatever they wish as they enjoy following a predetermined path.

Jeff Buscher, College Chaplain, explained that while the fall Serve and Celebrate day was around before he started at Jewell, the spring Jewell Day of Service began around 2010.

“About seven or eight years ago one call came out for folks to do service on Martin Luther King Jr. Day,” said Buscher. “That’s a popular day for folks to help out and serve.”

However, because of the timing of Jewell’s winter break, students may or may not be on campus for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

“We still wanted to have a spring Day of Service that was similar to Serve and Celebrate,” said Buscher. “So, in about 2010 we started doing a spring Jewell Day of Service and it’s kind of random how we select the date.”

Although spring Jewell Day of Service and fall Serve and Celebrate both focus on serving the community around Jewell, Buscher comments that he likes to switch up the volunteer groups during the two separate days of service.

“In the fall I purposely mix up student groups. If all the ADPi’s [Alpha Delta Pi] and all the KA’s [Kappa Alpha] sign up I take a few from each group and mix them up into teams,” said Buscher. “Just to promote working with other people outside of your group. So we do that in Serve and Celebrate, but in the spring Jewell Day of Service when people sign up I try to assign them to their group. That’s nice too because people like working with their friends. So that’s how I balance those two out.”

Buscher has local agencies he contacts each year to let them know the date and asks them if Jewell students could volunteer at their organizations. This year, Jewell students volunteered at 15 organizations, including Jewish Vocational Services, Hope House, Rebuilding Together Kansas City and Earnest Shepherd Youth Center.

“We really try to partner with places that really serve the community and we know that because they’re busy serving the community, sometimes they let things go like ‘I know that needs a coat of paint but we don’t have time’ or ‘We really need to clean up that shed, but we don’t have time.’ So that’s one of the things I tell these agencies when I contact them is we will do whatever work you need to be done,” said Buscher. “We know that you’re busy serving the community and we just want to partner with you, come alongside you and help you do your job better. So that’s what I do, and I tell them our students will do whatever you ask them to do. And they [Jewell student volunteers] do, and they’re fantastic. They usually do it faster than people expect.”

Even though the Saturday morning for this year’s day of service was bitterly cold, Jewell students woke up early to serve their community.

“I have to say that I was so pleasantly surprised,” said Buscher. “I just thought ‘It’s a cold morning and nobody is going to want to do this.’ However, we had 140 students show up, even though at 8:15 a.m. when we sent them out, I think it was 26 degrees.”

Buscher also notes that the Jewell Day of Service is an educational experience where students can learn more about the organizations in our community.

“When students go to these agencies and volunteer, I always make sure to tell the agencies to please take the first 10 or 15 minutes to explain what they do, what their services are and how they help the community,” said Buscher. “That’s why I consider it educational in that students are exposed to these nonprofits that are really helping the community.”

Hannah Jacobs, a first-year biology major and assistant to the chaplain, volunteered on Jewell Day of Service and went to Hillcrest Hope Avondale apartments to help clean and organize the community living space.

“The purpose of their organization is to help homeless families get back on their feet,” said Jacobs. “We actually worked with some of the residents who are living there because they have to come help and volunteer now and then. So Hillcrest just helps families with their issues, enforces positive problem solving, positive lifestyles and just helps residents find jobs and improve their family lives.”

For Buscher, seeing students show up for Jewell Day of Service is a huge encouragement. Hearing the positive responses from the organizations makes the whole event worth it.

“My second favorite part is that on Monday morning when the agencies contact me and thank me for the work that was done,” said Buscher. “Reading those thank you notes is always very nice because I just hear ‘got more done than we expected!’ or ‘they were so cheerful!’ so reading those thank you notes is always a big boost.”

Photos courtesy of Jeff Buscher. 

The ten students were Jonathan Morris, senior psychology major; Rylan Schuster, senior accounting major; Aaron Brake, senior biology major; James Hobbs, first-year history and English major; Mason Bake, junior nonprofit leadership and business administration major; Tana Pottorf, senior biology major; Seki Anderson, senior biochemistry major; Hannah Keeney, sophomore chemistry major; Melissa Ward, sophomore pre-nursing and psychology major; and Zandie Mehlhaff, sophomore nursing and Applied Critical Thought and Inquiry major. They were accompanied by Jeff Buscher, College Chaplain, and Daniel Ramirez, Assistant Director of International Admission and Transfer Recruitment. 

Buscher organized the trip and connected with contacts in Houston.

“Over the course of three years, we took about five trips including Katrina. So when Harvey hit Houston, it was not long after school started and since we had fall break coming up in five weeks, I kind of put [forward] that possibility and I didn’t want it to be just my idea. So I put out a list to see who is interested in going and I started working finding a location, a place to stay, finding all the logistics work to do. The idea really came from disaster trips that came from the past. We did Katrina, we worked on cutting tree limbs after an ice storm in Springfield, we went to Florida one time after some hurricanes. We have a history of trying to respond to natural disaster when it is feasible at Jewell,” he said.

The group partnered with Butch Green, a cooperative Baptist fellowship missionary in that area, who works primarily with immigration and human trafficking issues. Green is currently working with disaster relief and is helping groups coming into Houston. He works with several different agencies to find projects and connect groups with residents who need help.

The Jewell group stayed at Temple Baptist Church, which supplied them with air mattresses, snacks, toiletries and shower trailers.

Students who participated were fueled by the desire to help those in need.

“One of my future career goals as a person in the medical field is to use my knowledge gained from schooling and experience to be able to get up and leave if a natural disaster or man-made catastrophe arises. Although this hurricane relief trip was not medicine based, I had two hands that worked and a caring heart. I had no reason not to go and help,” said Pottorf.

The group worked with a Cambodian community that relies on growing water spinach for a living. The group cleaned the steel poles of the destroyed greenhouse so that the community could rebuild a new one. The volunteers also partnered with the Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation to clear damaged items from houses. The group then organized and managed donations for Home Depot that would help residents rebuild and restore their furniture.

Later, they helped individuals empty their houses and tear up ruined wooden floors. The houses required full gutting. The group also removed kitchen cabinets and tile walls from bathrooms.

Students had an overall positive experience and were proud of the contributions they made to the communities affected by Hurricane Harvey.

“My personal favorite part of the trip was talking with the families we helped during and after the projects. The stories they told were very eye-opening and impacted me to want to help in as many ways as I can in the future with people in similar situations,” said Morris.

“This trip has affected me as a person by showing me that people of natural disasters are optimistic and thankful. The storm took a lot of their material things away from them, but they cared more about the people. As long as family members and friends were safe, the material things did not matter as much. This is a very good message for everyone who takes life for granted. It’s not about what we have, but it’s about the people we have that matter,” said Ward.

Buscher gave advice to students who want to help out but are not sure where to start.

“If folks want to go to Florida or Puerto Rico to help out in these disaster relief locations, the best thing I can recommend is that you make some connections. Find an agency that is handling volunteers and can help find a meaningful project. And if people [at Jewell] need help finding those agencies, I am happy to help. Besides, there are Baptist groups, there are nonprofit agencies who are trustworthy and will give you good work to do.”

A previous version of this article was published with inaccuracies.