No foolin’! The calendar may have shown it was April 1, but over 300 Columbia International University students were not joking around on April Fools Day as they spanned out across the South Carolina Midlands for the fifth annual RAMServe community service day. The ram is the CIU mascot, but each spring RAM stands for “Renewal Around the Midlands.”
The CIU students were joined by students from Columbia College and a number of nonprofits from around the community in the beautification, cleanup and repair efforts.
Two CIU students who will soon be graduating — one in May and the other in December, offered their reflections on the day as they served in two different ways, in two separate locations.
“The Hands and Feet of Jesus”
Shoshannah Crompton, an English major who will leave CIU in May, was assigned to assist at the Salvation Army Thrift Store in Columbia. She called it “a valuable opportunity to work alongside members of the community that students, like myself, might otherwise not encounter.”
She sorted donated clothes, shoes, picture frames, and linens, throwing away unusable items in the dumpster and prepping good-quality items to be sold in the store. She wrote:
“It oddly touched me in a way, thinking how those clothes would be separated throughout the store, on different racks, sold to different people, used but would be for a long time useful for other people. It is a good thing when one man’s trash becomes another man’s treasure.
I appreciated that RAMServe provided this experience for me and the opportunity to serve my community in a simple, humble way — doing work for God’s children by simply sorting clothes. Easy, honest work often brings one to realize the unique joy that can be found in being the hands and feet of Jesus.”
“A Humbling Experience”
Meanwhile, Humanities and Bible major Becca Kohlmyer — who will graduate at December’s commencement — was assigned to a neighborhood not far from the CIU campus where her group participated in various projects including house repairs, power washing a sidewalk and litter pickup. She wrote:
“I think we as students can often get caught up in our own little worlds, especially with the stress of assignments and due dates looming over us constantly. We live in a culture that really emphasizes the individual and it can be hard to escape that sometimes and realize there are people who have their own lives and stories. That was something I thought about a lot as I met the people we were helping out and saw how grateful they were for our work.
It was really nice to do something different, something outside of myself, that impacted others in a positive way. I really regret that this will be my last RamServe. I think this is so needed, not just for the people that are getting help and service but also for the servers. It isn’t easy to take that posture of serving, but it is a humbling experience and how we’re called to be as believers and followers of Jesus. And it is so rewarding to obey the Lord in that way and to love and serve our neighbors. It has inspired me to seek out ways I can help my community more and help improve the world.”
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