Service « Baylor Proud

Points of Pride — Service

Apr

2013

Memorial service on Baylor campus honors fallen heroes from West explosion

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Service

Ferrell Center, site of ceremony for West firefighters

The 12 first responders who died battling the fire that led to last week’s explosion in West, Texas, were remembered during a memorial service in the Ferrell Center Thursday afternoon. Baylor University was honored to provide the site for the service, which was organized by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and the Texas LODD Task Force.

Following a processional down University Parks Drive that included 300+ fire trucks from all over the country, a capacity crowd filled the Ferrell Center, including President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, 4,000 uniformed responders, and thousands of other citizens paying their respects from the West, Waco and Baylor communities and beyond. Many more watched from other venues; on campus, in Waco Hall, the Bill Daniel Student Center and McLane Student Life Center, as well as at Baylor Ballpark, Getterman Stadium, and the Hurd Tennis Center, which were all opened and carried the broadcast for the overflow crowds.

[VIDEO: U.S. President Barack Obama || Baylor President Ken Starr || Governor Rick Perry || Memorial processional]

“No words adequately describe the courage that was displayed on that deadly night,” said President Obama, the 7th sitting U.S. President to visit Baylor, following Harry S Truman, 1947; Dwight Eisenhower, 1956; Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965; Gerald Ford, 1976; Ronald Reagan, 1988; and George W. Bush, 2002. “What I can do is offer the support and the love and prayers of the nation. We may not all live here in Texas, but we’re neighbors, too. We are Americans, too. And we stand with you and will not forget.”

[PHOTOS: From the processional and ceremony, courtesy Baylor Photography]

“America’s great poet laureate, Robert Frost, wrote that, ‘Good fences make good neighbors,’” said Judge Starr. “Today, there are no fences… because we are all together as neighbors. We are standing together, figuratively, arm in arm.”

Together, the entire Baylor family honors those who died last week in West and prays for all those whose lives have been affected by the tragedy.

Apr

2013

Hearts of service: Three Baylor nursing students were among the first on the scene in West

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Alumni, Service, Student life

Czech Stop - West explosion

Last Wednesday, two Baylor nursing students and one recent graduate were driving back from Waco to Dallas following ROTC when they decided to grab dinner at a popular I-35 stop just north of Waco. (You probably see where this is going already.)

The trio — seniors Ali Nordlander, of Scottsdale, Ariz., and Ashlyn McNeely, of Pampa, Texas, and alum Quianna Samuels, BSN ’12, of San Antonio — stopped at the Czech Stop in West just minutes before a nearby fertilizer plant exploded. They immediately ran more than a mile toward the mushroom cloud and were among the first responders to start pulling the elderly, many of them bedridden, from West Rest Haven, a nursing home that was devastated by the blast.

Dressed in their ROTC fatigues, the students’ presence commanded respect in the middle of what Ashlyn calls “complete chaos,” and those able to help listened as the trio gave directions to transport the injured to safety. These brave young women set up a triage area and treated countless injuries over the first four hours of the West tragedy as it all unfolded on national television, leaving only after those in the worst medical condition had been picked up and taken to hospitals.

In addition to the university’s response, Baylor students and alumni have shown initiative in finding their own ways to rally for West. A few examples:

A group of Christian artists (including Baylor alums Laura Cooksey, BM ’01, Jillian Edwards, BA ’11, Shaun Groves, BM ’97, and Robbie Seay) put together Songs for West, a compilation album that is free for download but for which listeners can leave tips; all money received will go to Baylor’s West relief fund. (As of this morning, the album had already generated more than $3,500 in tips.)
Friday, members of Alpha Phi Omega held a bake sale in the SUB to raise money for the people of West.
Jesus Said Love, a “ministry to the marginalized” led by Baylor alums Brett (BA ’98) and Emily (BA ’99) Mills, has adopted one family that lost everything in the explosion (including any keepsakes they had from a baby that died a year ago) and is working to provide shelter, clothing, food, furniture, etc. (in addition to pastoral care).

Do you know of other stories where the Baylor family has stepped in to serve following the West explosion? Please share them with us, and we’ll share some of our favorites in a later Baylor Proud blog post and/or pass them along to Baylor Magazine for consideration for their next issue. Click to here to submit your story.

Sic ’em, Bears, for serving so well!

(photo shared on Twitter by @AndyBartee)

Apr

2013

Baylor community rallies for West, Texas, as Diadeloso becomes DiaDelWest

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Service, Student life

Baylor students praying for West, Texas Few things could make me more proud than seeing how the Baylor community sprang into action following the explosion Wednesday night in nearby West, Texas (about 20 miles north of Waco).

Students organized a midnight prayer gathering in front of Waco Hall, drawing almost 100 people to pray for those affected. Overnight, the university rolled out a website (baylor.edu/relief) to gather information on how Bears could help; that was followed later Thursday with a Facebook group to help get updates out.

Thursday was also Diadeloso, an annual holiday for Baylor students. But the morning’s events were rearranged to make room for a prayer vigil in the Student Union Building between 10 and 11 a.m. Baylor Chamber took the bear mascot trailer out to Dia later in the day to collect water, blankets, etc. for the displaced from West, just one of many groups collecting aid around Waco.

(My wife called at 9:30 a.m. from the local Target, where she had stood in line behind two Baylor students who had a cart overflowing with similar supplies for West evacuees; the cashier said they were the second group of Baylor students to come through her line already this morning.)

Students, faculty and staff were urged to give blood at local collection centers (Carter Blood Care and Scott & White Blood Center), and lines at such locations stretched around the block. Baylor also began accepting donations (both online and in-person at Robinson Tower) for a fund to benefit the community of West. The Diadeloso headliner concert featuring Five for Fighting was moved to the Ferrell Center and opened to the public; cash donations to support the relief effort were accepted, and $1 from every concessions sale will go to relief efforts. [See photos from the concert and other Dia events here.]

Thursday evening, Judge Starr sent this email out to the entire Baylor family, noting that in less than 24 hours the fund mentioned above had already received nearly $15,000 in donations (not including donations collected at the concert).

So proud of how the Baylor family has responded; even Sports Illustrated has picked up on the Baylor spirit. I think this tweet sums things up:

Proud to be a Bear. On a day designed to celebrate all things Baylor, they are helping their neighbors in West. #DiaDelOso #DiaDelWest

— Laurie Cavin (@lauriecavin) April 18, 2013

Sic ’em, Bears!

Apr

2013

Baylor’s Texas Hunger Initiative making strides in reducing hunger across Texas

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Academics, Pro Futuris, Service, Videos

Despite some tremendous results in helping reduce hunger across the state, Baylor University’s Texas Hunger Initiative (THI) has flown somewhat under the radar since its founding in 2009. But no longer.

A series of sponsorships and grants from corporate foundations like Walmart and ConAgra Foods, coupled with contracts like this $3.5 million deal with the State of Texas, are allowing THI to rapidly expand the efforts that have already seen, for example, an additional 15 million breakfasts served to school children statewide over the past year.

In 2009, Baylor alum Jeremy Everett, MDiv ’01, began the Texas Hunger Initiative in a parking garage office space, working collaboratively with Baylor’s School of Social Work, the Baptist General Convention of Texas and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. His goal was to develop a model to significantly reduce (and perhaps eliminate) hunger by building a public-private infrastructure that could be replicated in other states. To accomplish such a feat, THI has worked with local volunteers in cities across Texas to make sure money already budgeted for food program assistance is better and more efficiently utilized.

[Learn more about the Texas Hunger Initiative and how it works in this excellent feature from the latest issue of Baylor Magazine.]

Thanks to increased funding from outside sources, THI is now able to expand, opening a dozen regional offices (from El Paso to Houston and Amarillo to McAllen) to better coordinate with individuals in the communities being served. (Want to join in? Learn more here.)

Baylor’s Pro Futuris strategic vision calls for Baylor to be a place “where our Christian faith, in conjunction with our expertise and resources, inspires a desire to address systematic problems facing our community.” THI is a perfect example of how Baylor can serve not only our students, but our entire state. Pro Texana, indeed.

Sic ’em, Texas Hunger Initiative!

Texas Hunger Initiative

Mar

2013

Students host annual Easter egg hunt for Baylor community kids

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Photo Galleries, Service, Student life

Baylor Easter Egg Hunt

Every year, the ladies of Kappa Kappa Gamma host an Easter Egg hunt on Founders Mall (between Pat Neff and Waco Hall) for the children and grandchildren of Baylor faculty and staff. [Click here for pictures from this year's event, thanks to Baylor Photography.]

Hundreds of plastic eggs stuffed with candy and other goodies are distributed across the grounds, as the children (ages 9 and under) wait for the signal to begin a mad dash of egg collecting. The “hunt” doesn’t take long — usually five minutes or less — but the squeals of joy ring in parents’ ears for far longer. (My three-year-old thanked God that night for “the Baylor Easter thing.”)

Of course Easter is primarily about our Savior’s death and resurrection, but it’s also enjoyable around such holidays to celebrate with family — be they flesh and blood, or members of the larger Baylor family. As both an alum and a parent, I’m thankful to be a part of the community here and to those who bring us together for such events.

Sic ’em, KKG!

Mar

2013

Students skip skiing for spring break service

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Service, Student life

2013 Baylor Freshman Spring Break Mission Trip at work While the cliche remains that every college student spends spring break hitting the slopes or partying at the beach, hundreds of Baylor students spent their week off in a very different manner: serving others.

In addition to the many who headed out with local church college groups, six teams of students organized by Baylor’s Office of Spiritual Life hit the road to put what they’ve learned in the classroom to practical use benefitting others:

The Multicultural Association of Pre-health Students sent a group to Panama City, Panama, where they observed and served in free local clinics under the supervision of doctors from Global Medical Training International.
An American Medical Student Association team traveled to Guatemala to work with Global Community Health Evangelism, observing and serving in local clinics and teaching basic hygiene techniques to village children.
Students from Baylor’s medical humanities program visited Universidad Evangelica de El Salvador, the country’s national university, where they observed and served in the university hospital and local clinics.
Baylor School of Nursing students went to Lima, Peru, to work with a local church, offering health education and physical assessments. They also researched local health practices in Peru.
An urban mission team traveled to Eagle Pass, Texas, to partner with Literacy Connexus and Texas Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. There, the group sponsored family reading fairs and literacy projects, worked in community gardens and performed light construction.
A team of 20 freshmen worked with Eight Days of Hope, a disaster recovery group, helping with relief efforts and doing light construction in LaPlace, La.

“These students are giving up their spring break to serve others,” noted Rebecca Kennedy, Baylor’s director of missions and an associate chaplain. ”That speaks volumes to the spirit of the Baylor student who seizes opportunities to serve God and neighbor. Many of our trips are discipline-focused, which allows students and faculty to integrate faith, learning and service into their mission experience.”

To see photos and read more about these students’ spring break experiences, check out @BUMissions on Twitter and visit facebook.com/BUMissions.

Sic ’em, Baylor students!

Feb

2013

Baylor prof named Lone Star Big Brother of the Year

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Honors, Service

Dr. Byron Johnson and Blake West It’s easy to forget, but teachers (and coaches), like the rest of us, have lives outside the classroom. Some Baylor professors have been known to perform live theatre or direct films in their spare time. Some write or record music. Some compete in triathlons.

For several years, Dr. Byron Johnson, director of Baylor’s Institute for Studies of Religion and one of the nation’s leaders on faith-based initiatives, has given his evenings and weekends to serve as a Big Brother to a Waco teenager. Johnson and 16-year-old Blake West (pictured together) often attend Baylor sporting events and concerts, but according to Blake’s mother, Johnson’s biggest impact has been on Blake’s commitment to his future.

“Byron has been a tremendous inspiration,” says Sherry White, Blake’s mom. “Blake wasn’t too excited about going to college, but now he is, and he wants to get the good grades. Byron is always there for him when he needs a little advice. … Blake has cheered up and grown up.”

For his work with Blake, Johnson was recently named Big Brother of the Year for the Lone Star district, which stretches from Dallas-Fort Worth across Central Texas west to San Angelo and south to Houston. In receiving the honor, Johnson is automatically nominated for statewide recognition from Big Brothers Big Sisters; Texas winners are then eligible for national awards from the group.

Sic ’em, Dr. Johnson and Big Brothers Big Sisters volunteers!

You might also like:
* Husband-wife professors spend their summer overseas in research and service (Sept. 2011)
* Piano prof takes music training to the Middle East (Sept. 2010)
* Prof nominated for Meals on Wheels volunteer award (June 2009)

Feb

2013

Ceremony brings back AFROTC alum to campus following tours in Afghanistan and Germany

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Alumni, Service

Shane Runyon

Since her earliest days, Baylor students have answered our nation’s call in military service. Soldiers of the Wooden Cross: Military Memorials of Baylor University recently chronicled the stories of Baylor veterans killed in service during the Civil War, World War I and II, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraqi Freedom.

While military education began on campus in 1888, formal commissioning programs were not established until Air Force ROTC arrived in 1948 as one of the nation’s first officer training programs. More recently, Army ROTC joined Baylor’s military programs in 2008. Over the years, Baylor graduates have served in many roles flinging their green and gold afar in military service.

Shane Runyon, BSN ’01, serves as an Air Force intensive-care nurse at Joint Base San Antonio, Brook Army Medical Center. He is also part of a three-person Critical Care Air Transport Team (CCATT) that evacuates war-wounded service men and women from forward locations via a highly portable ICU to medical treatment facilities — whether they are in combat areas or stateside. He has served three six-month tours with CCATT teams in Germany and Afghanistan, transporting, comforting and saving the lives of our wounded.

Last Friday, Runyon returned to campus for a memorable event — his promotion to major in the Air Force Nurse Corps. Because Shane originally commissioned at Pat Neff Hall in 2001, he wanted to return to the Ring of Honor to recite his oath of office for promotion. Lt. Col. (ret.) Jeff Bowles, BBA ’83, director of electronic marketing for Baylor and former AFROTC Det 810 commander (2001-04) presided while Runyon’s family looked on.

Sic ’em, Shane and Baylor/Air Force nurses!

Jan

2013

Students design 400-square-foot housing for use following natural disasters

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Academics, Research, Service

After a major natural disaster hits, perhaps the most pressing, immediate need is shelter — even if it’s temporary. Baylor interior design students, working with other students and faculty from such diverse disciplines as psychology, engineering, and film and digital media, are working to fill that need. (Watch the video above to see their proposed design.)

A national contest sponsored by the Interior Design Educators Council and Florida International University’s Department of Interior Architecture calls for entrants to design a dwelling of no more than 400 square feet that can handle a family of four. The students have studied what worked (and what didn’t work) for victims of disasters ranging from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake to Hurricane Katrina.

Tents are not allowed. The 450 square feet must include areas for sleeping, food preparation and a bathroom. It must work in situations where water may not be fit to drink, and utilities (including waste management) may be unavailable. And on top of all that, it must be quick and easy to assemble and disassemble.

“We’ve never done anything like this project,” says Greta Buehrle, BA ’05, an interior design lecturer in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences in Baylor’s College of Arts & Sciences. “It’s very schematic, all-encompassing, and it engages so many of Baylor’s Pro Futuris initiatives. This will definitely be a unique learning experience for everyone involved.”

Sic ’em, Baylor students!

Jan

2013

Baylor Law provides Christmas gifts for nearly 1,000 students at local elementary

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Service, Student life, Videos

Just before Christmas, the generosity of the Baylor Law School family allowed law school representatives to visit a local elementary school with a new, wrapped toy for every child in the school. (See the video above and this report from KWTX.)

Baylor Law faculty, staff and students raised more than $4,000, which was used to purchase toys for each of the school’s nearly 1,000 students plus 400 pairs of gloves for the children. Twenty students at Bell’s Hill Elementary had specific wishes fulfilled — wishes like these:

“All I want for Christmas is a crib for my two-month-old sister, because she has to sleep on the floor because she falls off of the regular bed and I don’t want something to happen to her.”
“I want a heater for Christmas for my cousin, because he is sick and if he gets cold he will have to go to the hospital.”
“I want silverware and dishes for Christmas to give to my mom because I love her so much, and she wishes she could get this stuff but she doesn’t have the money.”
“All I want for Christmas is clothes because I only have a little bit of clothes.”
“All I want for Christmas is to give toys to St. Francis Children’s Hospital because my cousin died from cancer and I want to give toys to the kids in the hospital.”

Sic ’em, ~~Santa’s elves~~ Baylor Law!

Points of Pride — Service

(photo shared on Twitter by @AndyBartee)

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