Students, faculty, staff and administrators from Cleveland University-Kansas City (CUKC) collaborated to help those in need during the 10th Annual Christian A. Cleveland Memorial Week of Service. This year, the week of service activities were held in conjunction with National Gratitude Month, which focuses on improving the world through acts of kindness and appreciation.
Eighty-seven Clevelanders, along with 16 friends of the University, tallied 209 hours of time in service projects during November, and the CUKC campus community collected 88 pounds of food for Harvesters Community Food Network.
The idea for a week of service was initiated following the passing of Christian A. Cleveland. The son of Dr. Carl Cleveland III and Elizabeth Cleveland, Christian was a friend and colleague who possessed a servant heart and was always ready to help others. In the decade since his passing, Clevelanders have honored his memory by helping members of the Kansas City community in the same selfless way that he did.
In addition to volunteer opportunities, the CUKC community shared “Care Cards” to recognize and appreciate their friends and colleagues, and held a photo contest for volunteers.
Clevelanders donated their time to several organizations around the Kansas City metro including Bridging the Gap, the City Union Mission, Safehome, Park Meadows Senior Living, Special Beginnings Early Learning Center, Harvesters, and Backpacks for Hunger.
The CUKC Community Service Coordinating Committee organized the service week, and Carol Brewer, assistant to the president at CUKC, coordinated the activities.
“It was so much fun to do something like this together with colleagues,” Brewer said. “It was very important that this month offered people the opportunity to give of their time and connect with the larger community.”
Plans are already underway to initiate similar service activities in 2019.
