Service group encourages students to volunteer
The Interfaith Service Group allows students to be involved in volunteer projects on campus, which includes all religious denominations, said the group’s founder.
“If we learn about other people’s religions we learn tolerance,” said Becky Nudd, the founder of the Interfaith Service Group.
“Service or charity are always a huge part of a religion,” Nudd said.
The service group has a four fold mission, Nudd said.
In any religion, service is important, she said, and so is education and reaching out to people.
“The second one is education, learning about others beliefs and religion, sponsoring and reaching out to different people and trying to understand what other people believe in, comparing [religions] and just embracing faith in general,” Nudd said.
Learning about other religions will lead to tolerance, she said, which is the third mission. It is more than just being tolerant with each other though, Nudd said.
“Service should be fun in everything we do,” Nudd said, the last mission for the group.
The service group was developed for people to have fun and for people to socialize among each other, Nudd said
“I’m hoping that different religions in one way or another will be able to bring the great things about their religion, to either show or explain to other people what they’re about,” Nudd said.
David Forbis, a member of Latter-day Saints Student Association service committee, said he supports the service group.
Forbis said he is representing 20 people from LDSSA and the that committee will be involved in the new service group.
“We have 500 girls in the IWA [Institute Womens Association], and we have four different ideals – one of them is service,” said Elise Rowley, the president of IWA.
“We want to reach out to the community, we realize we have the numbers, and the opportunity to do a lot with our girls,” Rowley said.
Service is not limited to one particular religious organization, Nudd said.
“We’d love to reach out to non-Christians,” Nudd said.
Service can be very rewarding, Nudd said. The group is currently working on a variety of projects, including Habitat for Humanity – building homes for less fortunate people in Cache County, Nudd said.
The group would also like to get involved with American Red Cross and help blood donations, as well as with the Fellowship of Christian University Students (FOCUS) and a variety of other service groups, she said.
Hospice Awareness is also something the group will place an emphasis on, and the group is also planning a project for Homecoming Week, Nudd said.
Nudd said she started the group because of a panel discussion with various religious leaders last year. The panel got her thinking about different religions, and she wanted to educate herself about them.
Nudd can be contacted by anyone with questions or by anyone seeking involvement by e-mail at rah@cc.usu.edu
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