Service Day tradition carried out virtually as students, alumni "Love Where They Live'

Serving others is an important part of who we are at Lipscomb. Even during this time of social distancing, Lipscomb students and alumni are finding ways to continue to serve.

Janel Shoun-Smith | 04/09/2020

For more than a decade Lipscomb University has held its annual Service Day, one day each spring when the university cancels all afternoon classes to allow students to serve at various schools, nonprofits, churches, parks, hospitals and charities throughout the city.

But 2020 is not like other years, and Lipscomb’s Service Day is also unlike any year before. Due to the COVID pandemic, Lipscomb’s more than 4,000 student body is now scattered across the nation as on-site classes were halted in favor of remote teaching in mid-March.

However that didn’t stop Service Day 2020 — which was scheduled for Wednesday, April 8. Students, their parents and alumni were asked to send in photos of themselves conducting service that meets the recommended social distancing guidelines to share on Lipscomb’s social media sites. The theme for this year's Service Day was Love Where You Live.

During the course of the day, Lipscomb students and alumni engaged in service, such as hosting Zoom meetings for church youth groups, grocery shopping for elderly neighbors, preparing and delivery meals for the elderly and even making face shields for medical professionals with their home 3D printers!

When Lipscomb University, determined to halt on-site classes and on-campus residential living as of March 30, the Office of Student Life and the Office of Spiritual Formation remained determined to maintain community among students and to advance the Lipscomb spirit throughout the rest of the semester, even if it was remotely.

“It just so happens that this year the theme for our service day was ‘Love Where You Live,’ said Brent Roe-Hall, Lipscomb’s director of partnerships in its spiritual formation office. “Now we were imagining, how we live here in Nashville, but the theme has great applicability as we are spread all over the country and world. We can still can matter where we are. Even as we are physically isolated, we can love where we live.” 

So what was recommended? Mowing a neighbor’s lawn, shopping for an elderly neighbor, paying for the person behind you in the drive-thru line or ordering take-out from a family-owned local restaurant, writing letters to patients in hospitals, donating blood or ordering pizza for a group of health care workers, among other options.

Lipscomb’s annual Service Day has grown to include more than 1,000 students, faculty and staff participants, who normally travel in groups to sites around Nashville to volunteer their labor to paint, clean, play with or tutor at-risk students, clear out brush, pick up trash, move furniture, sort donations or any other work that may be needed by 50 or more organizations.

Last year, alumni were added to the mix, as the Office of Alumni Relations encouraged all Lipscomb alumni to organize small groups to carry out service in their cities of residence during the week of Service Day. Nashville organizations that usually benefit on Service Day include, Nashville’s public school system, Radnor Lake, Second Harvest Food Bank, the Ronald McDonald House and local homeless shelters.