Campus Ministry Student Forum Celebrates Valentine’s Day

Despite its usual connotations of romance, the Campus Ministry Student Forum decided to celebrate Valentine’s Day 2015 as a day of love through interfaith service. Members of the 12 different faith-based organizations represented in the Forum came together to make Valentine’s Day cards and bags of candy for each employee of the university dining hall, Leo’s, as a token of appreciation. In the Forum’s second year as an advisory board, it is a thriving resource for support and discussion for members of Campus Ministry student organizations, and it promotes interfaith discussion and action. Former GU Brothers for Christ President, Skyler Abrams, came up with the idea of an interfaith service project that would allow the Forum and student body as a whole to express gratitude for the daily and largely unseen efforts of Leo’s staff. Members of the Forum and Leo’s administrators were enthusiastic about the plan, and the Forum and its Executive Committee sprung into action.

Approximately 50 members of various Campus Ministry student groups came together in Hoya Court during two different sessions to sign cards and fill bags of sweets. While leaders from each of the 12 organizations meet each month in Forum meetings, this was a unique opportunity for all members of these groups to come together, meet, and work towards a common goal: service. Signing the cards and filling the bags was the easy part. Reaching outside of our comfort zones to meet new people in the context of interfaith service may have been more challenging, but to those passing by, we probably looked like a large, unified group having a great time with laughter, conversation, and a lot of chocolate. We finished making all 127 cards and bags with great efficiency and joy, and all in attendance were left with only one question: “Who else is deserving of thanks and gratitude for their endless service on campus?”

Shradha Chhabria, NHS ’16