Origami night unfolded for hospitals
Papers of various shades were turned into a menagerie of creatures on Monday, Oct. 24 as Utah State University students created little foxes, frogs, crabs, bunnies, dragonflies and other animals in the TCS International Lounge.
The purpose of the origami night was to create origami kits to deliver to children in hospitals. The kits included six sheets of paper, instructions for creating different animals and a finished animal demo.
Kinley Morgan, a student majoring in business management, was the brains behind the event and partnered with Utah State University Student Association and Latter-day Saint Student Association to bring the project to life.
“This is something that can unify people,” Morgan said.
The USUSA executive vice president, Abraham Rodriguez, was excited to help with the service project.
“For them to know that there are students here at Utah State that care about them — if I was a kid from the hospital knowing that someone made something for me — there’s no better feeling,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez planned to get USUSA officers involved in at least one service project per semester.
“This brings us together,” Rodriguez said. “It’s just a great way to be able to bond, get to know each other, and know that you’re doing a good deed for others.”
Kelsey Vest, one of the co-presidents of a LDSSA committee, said that service is a goal of the organization.
“Joy is service,” Vest said. “So every time you go out and find a way to serve somebody else, you’re happy, they’re happy, and in the end, everybody just smiles. That’s one of the goals in life.”
The origami kits will go to children all over Cache Valley, with some heading to Layton and Preston.
“Origami is kind of out there — not something we normally do,” Vest said. “It’s a unique way to put a spin on how we serve people.”
Morgan said origami is something the children can “put their heart towards.”
“If they need something to hope for, I think learning how to make origami can be really cool for them,” Morgan said. “And that way, they can keep building with paper whenever they have time.”
Vest said that helping others benefits not only the one receiving but also those who are serving.
“College can be stressful, so they’re going to need an opportunity to take a break and serve other people,” Vest said. “If anyone ever has service ideas, contact us. It can always be done.”
According to Morgan, the art of origami has been essential in advancing science in the space industry.
“We were learning about origami and how space satellites can contract based on folding practices with metal,” Morgan said. “Origami has always blown my mind.”
Morgan found inspiration for the event from Serving with Smiles, a service organization in American Fork, and the story of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes.
Sadako was a young girl diagnosed with leukemia, and during her stay in the hospital, she decided to make a thousand origami cranes, believing they would let her spirit live on. Though she was not able to finish the project, her family and friends completed the cranes for her.
“I got to see Japan itself and all the thousand paper cranes from people who took on that challenge when they were in the hospital,” Morgan said. “It’s just a really inspiring story.”
Morgan said origami is a unifying service opportunity.
“There’s a ton of people meeting tonight and sitting next to each other, which I think is awesome,” Morgan said. “It’s super fun, super cheap, and it’s helping our own community locally.”