OCU students have been finding ways to give back to their communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rachel Patel, nursing senior, volunteered with churches and charities as a blood donor ambassador at American Red Cross.
“It’s so helpful. We always need blood at the hospitals,” she said. “I feel like now more than ever, it’s been really important to get with community members and see how they’re doing, especially those who don’t have many resources.”
Patel said last semester, she volunteered time at a local church.
“At St. Augustine Episcopal church, I did a service-learning credit for my community health class,” Patel said. “Me and three other students created 200 homeless care packages with hand sanitizer, socks, water bottles, disposable and reusable masks.”
Patel said they distributed the kits to the Jesus House, a local rehabilitation center, as well as other homeless shelters in the city. Patel said she hopes to return to the church soon.
“That time we spent with the church has helped out so many people,” she said. “We’ve kept in touch with them, and they’ve been coordinating for other events this semester, so we hope to go back.”
Nichole Gould, voice junior, volunteered her time at a local hospital working as a certain princess.
“I spend some time with ‘Princess Anna,’ and we did Zooms with the local Children’s Miracle Network hospital around the holiday season,” Gould said. “I read the story of ‘Olaf’s Frozen Adventure’ and sang a couple of songs for them.”
Gould said she reached out to her local hospital in Virginia and asked to volunteer her time. Gould also said being a princess is something she does independently.
“I wasn’t getting hired by princess companies because there’s some fatphobia in the industry, so I got my own dress, and I decided to do it because I thought it would be nice,” she said.
Gould said her interest in Children’s Miracle Network stems from multiple outlets.
“I’m a Phi Mu, and our philanthropy is the Children’s Miracle Network hospital, so we’ve been raising money as an organization, and I also have been raising money for Miracle Marathon,” she said.
Gould said she hopes to expand her volunteer capacity.
“I’m planning on trying to gather some friends to do more stuff like this with the hospital in the future,” she said. “I literally just found their email and asked them if they would be interested. If you have an idea totally just reach out and try it. Don’t be afraid; the worst they could say is no.”
Rebekah Small, youth ministry/Spanish senior, has been volunteering her time with a local church.
“I’m an intern for the Wesley center here on campus, and we already started a community outreach program in fall of 2019, where we’ve been going to a local, small church called Billy Hooten UMC,” Small said.
Small said the church gives food to locals who experience difficulty getting to other food donation resources.
Small said she has enjoyed the volunteer work despite the hurdles presented by the pandemic.
“We’ve had to make a lot of adjustments since COVID. We only take about five students a month, but it’s still really good to be there with a couple of people giving back to that community,” Small said. “When we came back this fall, we were really eager to continue helping them, while still being safe and keeping our students safe, as well as the people coming to the food pantry.”
Small said students who are interested in getting involved with the food pantry can contact her at rasmall@my.okcu.edu.
Luke Gilmore, music theater junior, organized two benefit concerts to help raise money for the Actor’s Fund and the Black Lives Matter movement.
“I wanted to help out organizations that had been deeply affected by COVID-19. It was successful; the first one raised $1500, and the second raised $1000,” Gilmore said. “Of course, I didn’t know the ramifications of how long they were going to be affected, but it’s just something that I really wanted to do, and I’m hoping to do more of this spring.”
Gilmore said students interested in philanthropy should follow their passion.
“I say just go for it. Any sort of impact is better than nothing, and even if you feel like you’re making a small difference, it will probably make a big impact,” he said.
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