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Date: Sept. 1, 2005
Contact: Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
V: 847/742-5100 F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL: _CoBNews@AOL.Com_ (mailto:CoBNews@AOL.Com) 
 

CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN NEWSLINE
September 1, 2005
 
McPherson College students lend helping hands
 
Sept. 1, 2005 (Elgin, IL) --  McPherson (Kan.) College continues to  
encourage service and community responsibility in a program requiring all 
freshman 
and sophomore students to participate in seminar classes that provide 
various 
types of service projects on campus and in the community. The college,	which

is related to the Church of the Brethren, reported in a recent release	that 
lessons about service are well learned, as students from all classes 
continue 
to volunteer at many organizations including the Cedars Health Care  Center, 
Good Beginnings Preschool, Meals on Wheels, the McPherson Humane  Society, 
Multi-Community Diversified Services, the McPherson Public Library, and 
McPherson 
Family YMCA.
 
Two groups of McPherson College volunteers participated in a Habitat for  
Humanity project in Lindsborg, Kan. One group helped complete the foundation
for  
a new house. Kevin Hadduck, director of academic development, felt that 
everyone  benefitted from the project. "I believe that getting students out
of 
their  academic-sports-social routines and exposed, even if very briefly,
to the	needs and situations other people face can be very valuable," he
said.
 
Two service trips were made during the fall break in October 2004. The	first

went to Hallam, Neb., where 13 students helped repair homes damaged in a  
tornado that devastated the town of 276 people in May 2004. "The town was a  
ghost town with only one or two houses left that looked livable, and only two
or  
three trees still standing. It looked like a giant construction site. I wish 
we  could have done more to help," said Seth Schoming, a sophomore from 
Davenport,  Neb.
 
The second trip was to Heifer International in Arkansas, as part of the  
World Food Issues class taught by Al Dutrow, associate professor of
Agriculture.  
Activities included cleaning animal facilities, paint branding sheep, 
harvesting  and cleaning vegetables, fence construction, and landscape
maintenance. 
One  afternoon and night were spent in the Global Village, providing an 
opportunity  to experience the living conditions and limited food resources
of people 
served	by Heifer International in various parts of the world.
 
Working through the Church of the Brethren General Board's Disaster  Response

program, eight students did hurricane relief work in Pensacola, Fla.,  during

spring break this year. The work consisted mainly of dismantling unused  and 
damaged naval base housing to salvage usable parts such as mirrors, 
fixtures, 
bricks, and wood. The salvage was sold and the proceeds were used to  buy 
materials to help repair damaged homes. "Our trip to Pensacola was amazing," 

said Amy Porter, a sophomore from Quinter, Kan. "The destruction was
horrific,  
but having the chance to help people who were so badly affected by this
natural 
 disaster gave us all a great feeling."
 
The tradition for service participation has contributed to the college's  
goal of creating whole persons. According to Tracy Stoddart, service  
coordinator, "the mission of McPherson College is alive and well." For more 
information 
call Stoddart at 620-241-0742 ext. 1707 or see _www.mcpherson.edu_ 
(http://www.mcpherson.edu) .
 
The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to  
continuing the work of Jesus peacefully and simply, and to living out its
faith  in 
community. The denomination is based in the Anabaptist and Pietist faith  
traditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrates its
 300th 
anniversary in 2008. It counts about 130,000 members across the United	
States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Brazil, the  
Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Nigeria.
 
# # #
 
For more information contact:
 
Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
Director of News Services
Church of the  Brethren General Board
1451 Dundee Ave.
Elgin, IL 60120
847-742-5100  ext. 260
_cbrumbaugh-cayford_gb@brethren.org_ 
(mailto:cbrumbaugh-cayford_gb@brethren.org) 
 
*****************************************************************
The  Church of the Brethren Newsline is produced by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford,

 director of news services for the Church of the Brethren General Board. 
Newsline  stories may be reprinted provided that Newsline is cited as the
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