By Lillie Tretter, Staff Writer
Beginning in 1988, hundreds of Ouachita Baptist University students, faculty and staff set aside one weekend in the spring and fall to give back to their community and serve those in need. Tiger Serve Day is a campus-wide event centered around the importance of faith, community and service. It is more than yard work and cleaning; it is an opportunity for students to reciprocate the love Christ has shown them by serving their community.
“It’s a twofold purpose,” says Judy Duvall, Director of the Elrod Center. “Tiger Serve Day meets practical and relational needs.” Practical needs include helping non-profits, organizations and individuals with tasks they can’t do alone. Relational needs involve bonding with people, caring for them and learning to show kindness to the community. This year, Tiger Serve Day will take place on April 11, with the theme “Walk in Love”, inspired by Ephesians 5:2, which calls Christians to walk in love as Christ loved, giving students the opportunity to love and serve their community.
The impact of this service is felt deeply and widely across the community. For Pat French, an Arkadelphia resident and retired school teacher, the help that she receives from teams is truly life-changing and something she depends on. Over the past six years, French has relied on teams to help her with tasks such as yard work, garage cleanouts, moving furniture and even cleaning light fixtures. “I do not think I could survive without the Tiger Serve Day kids,” said French. “They help me to do things I physically cannot do anymore. Emotionally, they boost my morale and are very attentive to me. I see the love and feel the love.”
Planning Tiger Serve Day is a detailed and careful process. Meetings are held five weeks in advance to pair teams together with projects, organize tool sheds and coordinate the logistics of the day. Duvall and her team visit all of the project sites ahead of time to get to know the people they are serving and to make sure they are fully prepared and teams have everything they need to successfully carry out the tasks. “It’s about setting up our volunteers for a meaningful experience while building relationships with the community,” said Duvall.
However, no amount of planning can prepare a team for the possible events they will encounter while serving. A group of science students was doing yard work and witnessed a neighbor collapse in his front yard just two yards down. They quickly ran over to find that the man had had a heart attack. The team began performing compressions and mouth-to-mouth and called an ambulance. The next week, Duvall got a call from the physician who treated the man, stating that the group of students literally saved this gentleman’s life. They were in the right place at the right time. “We pray over every project and team that will be going to different places. I can’t help but think that the Lord provided that exact team for that exact reason,” said Duvall.
While some experiences highlight the gravity of serving, for many students, Tiger Serve Day is filled with small, joyful moments. Jordyn Merrett, a member of Ouachita’s softball team, has participated several times with her team and describes her experience as both rewarding and fun. In the fall, her team helped a resident by cleaning her porch, picking up trees in her front yard, weeding her backyard, and power washing her driveway.
Merrett described her time serving as fulfilling. “It is fulfilling for them and also fulfilling for us because we get to have that impact on them, even if it is just for a couple of hours a day,” said Merrett. As a kindness for their work, the woman they served gifted them little pumpkins, lemonade and handwritten notes to show her appreciation for them, showing that residents truly do look forward to both aspects of the day: relationships and practicality.
For many residents like Pat French, the help they receive from Tiger Serve Day teams is life-changing. “It means everything to me. They humble themselves, taking time away from their friends and studies to do things for me that I can not do,” said French. Students can sign up for a team or individually and be placed on a team. There is a place for everyone and a way for everyone to be involved in the community and meet new people. Through service, members of Ouachita exemplify their love they receive through Christ by offering their time, energy, and care to others.
“Ouachita is committed to fostering a Christ-centered learning community, and Tiger Serve Day is an extraordinary way for our campus to exercise our faith by serving others in our community,” said Duvall. If you are a student interested in participating in Tiger Serve Day, you can sign up individually or as a team by visiting obu.edu/elrod/serve. Registration is open through the Friday before spring break. Take this opportunity, whether for a small task or a life-saving moment, to serve with joy, meet new people and truly walk in love.
