On Wednesday, Sept. 20, Moravian College held its second annual Heritage Day, for which  students and faculty came together to make an impact on the Bethlehem-area community.

This year, 1,271 faculty members and students gave 2,540 hours of service to 44 non-profit organizations. Some of these organizations included The Boys and Girls Club, Cops N’ Kids, and the Monocacy Creek Cleanup.

At the Monocacy Creek site alone, nine bags of recyclables, 12 bags of garbage, one TV, one lawn chair, and a metal gate were retrieved and properly disposed of.

The day before the Heritage Day activities commenced, a Lovefeast was held in the Academic Quad, where food and drink was shared among students to build good-will and celebrate unity.

The celebration continued into the next day when students, alumni, President Bryon Grigsby, and Gillian Sharkey, director of civic engagement, made speeches commemorating the event over breakfast inside Johnston Hall. After the speeches, students gathered in groups to head off on 16 different buses that transported them to their community service destinations.

“I was involved in the Feed the Children Warehouse Organization, where a bunch of students packaged various items to send to families in need of supplies,” said Matthew Owens ‘21. “I enjoyed the experience, because it was about helping others that could not help themselves, and you realized that all the hard work you put in was going to a really great cause.”

“I was transported to Monocacy Creek and, honestly, it was a life-changing event for me. I did not realize how littered our environment really was and how important it is to recycle and clean up our community,” said Katelyn Morrison, ‘21. “It was also life-changing in the sense that I realized that the major I chose really coincided with the clean-up and made me more interested in environmental science. Now that I realize the importance of small things like recycling or even just going to clean up some garbage outside, I can truly make an impact on not only my community now but on communities in the future.”

Carly Danoski ‘20 volunteered with Jumpstart to create puppet packs to send home with children as an activity to make with their families. “I feel like we’re working as a team. I would definitely do this again,”said Danoski.

Grigsby was thrilled to see so many students participating in community service projects. Looking to the future, Grigsby said, “I hope that this is a part of every student’s experience for all four years here at Moravian College.”