When Waynesburg University opened its doors to a new class of freshmen in 2020, COVID-19 restrictions were in place. Students no longer met face to face to do social and spiritual outreach in the community. Going to church either at Roberts Chapel on campus or at churches in the neighborhood and elsewhere was mostly live streamed or limited seating. For freshmen, this was their new norm.
Taking a virtual tour of the university’s historic campus is a fun tour de force online. Roberts Chapel is an awesome sight and nudging the mouse to stroll the shady campus walkways takes you to all departments and classes offered. But many of the pre-pandemic activities that brought people together have been put on hold. Writing this story has given me a sense of the isolation that we have all been working around, but especially students on a mission to build a better world.
“For now all our projects are remote and virtual,” Assistant Dean of Students Kelly Hardie tells me when I call. Online and individual projects safely connect students to an outside world of volunteerism that can be rich and rewarding. Some students choose to become “blanketeers” and make blankets for the Greene County Project Linus Chapter. This national nonprofit started in 1995 when an article in Parade Magazine featured two-year-old Laura who found comfort in her “special blankie” as she endured treatment for leukemia. Now thousands of volunteers make blankets across America for children who have been traumatized, are seriously ill, or in need of that sense of security that a lovingly made blanket can give.
On Valentines Day, cards handmade by WU volunteers were delivered with that day’s Meals on Wheels lunches to isolated shut-ins. Students also cheer up lives through Cards for Hospitalized Kids, another national nonprofit. Operation Gratitude hooks volunteers up with service members on tours of duty. Volunteers write letters, send candy at Halloween and make military care packages and Paracord bracelets year round.
Closer to emotional home for students is to become a “listener” for 7 Cups, an online therapy and free counseling service that presents itself as a chat group but is licensed to offer professional counseling and training. Those who come with personal issues to untangle find anonymous listeners who have been trained to give emotional support. Those who come can browse the bios of available listeners to compare interests. The first bio I came upon was that of awesomePresence who has been a listener 18 times in the last week and writes “everyone needs to vent sometimes….” She’s on step seven of her own path to certification, something that can be added to her portfolio if she is working on a degree. Kelly Hardie works with every student who volunteers as they ready themselves to be hands on in the community once the world is safe again.
Waynesburg University’s lofty Roberts Chapel, with its concert hall piano, organ and sound system, was built in 2011 and became an instant landmark. Its classic lines and white spire rise high above the campus and it is built to hold hundreds of people. I can’t attend services because campus is still closed to visitors but Chaplain Josh Sumpter is happy to take my call.
Pandemic or not, “we point them to Christ” and let them find their way to local churches and be grounded in faith. Professor Sumpter tells me that with the freshmen, “we were worried about how they would get connected.” They began finding their way when senior Sarah Mendes started a prayer group that met Friday nights at 10 p.m. in the safety of Roberts Chapel. It caught on. Students meet to pray and commiserate in the chapel Sunday through Thursday and participation is growing, “These are the fruits that have come out.” They are learning to adjust expectations, to be present to appreciate the daily blessings of life and to care for others in uncertain times. There are bible studies to major and minor in and some graduates go on to seminary or specialize in children and youth services, mission work or media.
Since campus is closed I take to Facebook to find Sarah Mendes. I find her masked up and sitting on the grass with her laptop in her profile photo, with “a life lived fully for Christ is never boring” written beneath it. Scrolling down I find her on video telling me about the prayers at 10 p.m. The next video, dated November 10, 2020 takes me into Roberts Chapel to listen to Sarah speak during service. I am not prepared for the concert sound that jumps out of my iPhone and fills the kitchen or the sweet clarity of thought and faith that Sarah’s voice conveys. I recognize Professor Sumpter from the photo he sent me for this story and almost wave. The walls of isolation this virus has put between us all are only as high as we allow.