Committee Spotlight

Spotlight: LEAP’s Marketing Committee


LEAP is a fairly new organization that strives to not only make a difference in the Macon community, but to also get Mercer students involved. Within LEAP, there are multiple branches of focus, one of them being the Marketing Committee. This committee handles LEAP’s advertisements and helps to get LEAP’s name out there to the general public. The Marketing Committee is easy to join and open to all Mercer students. This group uses two main sources of communication to update the student body via our Facebook page and, as our newest addition, Twitter. Facts and statistics about Macon and Mercer’s involvement can be seen here as well. Volunteering in LEAP programs, such as the marketing committee, gives you the opportunity to become a well rounded student while also making a substantial influence in the community. Remember, you can impact the world, one Service Saturday at a time.


Add us on Facebook: LEAP Macon
Follow us on Twitter: @LEAPMacon
To get involved: E-mail Bailee Kitchens or message us on Facebook

-Brittney Hall

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  

Director Spotlight

Today’s Director Spotlight is on Lyndssey Autrey, the Director of the Board for LEAP. I was fortunate enough to sit down with this remarkable lady and ask her a few questions about her involvement with LEAP. Lyndssey is a math major, education minor, and a chemistry minor, and her academic accomplishments mirror her contributions to LEAP. As Director of the Board, she sets and coordinates dates for the event, stays updated with the other members of the Board, assists them as necessary, becomes a team leader for three Service Saturdays, and even volunteers herself. When I asked her how she became involved with LEAP, she explained that Chelsea Flieger started LEAP, and that Chelsea wanted to hand the responsibility of LEAP to someone capable when she graduated. Lyndssey has been active with the program from her freshman year, so she has been able to watch it progress and knew how the program should be run. She continues to volunteer because she enjoys it. She enjoys that students come out to volunteer so that she can make a difference in the community with her friends. After volunteering in Macon, she had the opportunity to meet the homeowners and others in the community which took away her reservations about living off campus. I know that many students believe that volunteering is not beneficial to them in any way, but Lyndssey shared a few reasons why that is not true. Volunteering, especially in Macon where the need is so immediate, makes you a well rounded individual. College is not just about the grades; it’s where you have experiences that teach you more about life and allow you to grow. Lyndssey has definitely done her part and continues to do so to help the Macon community. Through her and the rest of the LEAP committee’s efforts, hopefully many more students will become involved in volunteering and learn just how valuable volunteering really is.

- Gina John

Why Should I Volunteer?

Many people ponder this question when debating joining any service opportunity, LEAP included. Common answers:
-Because it’s required for my class.
-To get volunteer hours.
-It will look good on my resume.

These are all legitimate claims, and ones that I myself consider. However, I realized after a few LEAP projects that they ignore another vital purpose of service:
-To selflessly help others in need.

But this mindset encounters problems.

Volunteer work often loses its apparent importance when direct effects of the work remain unseen. For example, the first LEAP weekend sent a group of students, me included, to a local warehouse. This warehouse accepted and sorted through donations, then redistributed them to locations such as Goodwill. The woman running this warehouse divided the twenty students into four groups, each assigned a minor task. One group transferred bulky items to a truck headed for a Goodwill center, one sorted through a new shipment of donations, one sorted books, and one organized hangers. Many of us felt disappointed. While our friends rebuilt houses, we divided coat hangers into groups of ten; the compared significance of these two tasks varied vastly.

 But to the warehouse owner, our help was unspeakably welcome. 10 students worked for 3 hours on organizing the hangers, and still did not complete the assignment; imagine one woman attempting that same feat. These volunteers saved her many hours of tedious work, while the others saved her grueling hours of heavy labor. While the direct impact of these students’ actions may not have been apparent, even to them, their help was indeed desperately needed.

 Another dilemma arises in the failed continuation of a multistep project, such as Habitat for Humanity. Students may begin a house building project, but not see the finished project. They may never meet the grateful homeowner, never receive direct thanks, never feel gratified in helping someone. Yet that gratitude still exists, even if not audibly conveyed by the directly affected person.

 Any form and degree of help is welcome, though it may not be the most glamorous or public show of assistance.
 -Kirsten Brown