Doris Walker of Kandern to Serve Over Spring Break in Philadelphia

2012 Feb 29

Doris Walker of Kandern, Germany, will serve with a group of Huntington University students from March 12-16 over spring break in Philadelphia.

Walker is a junior Entrepreneurial Small Business Management and Business Management major at HU.

HU's Joe Mertz Center for Volunteer Service will send three teams of students to Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Philadelphia; and Zacapa, Guatemala, from March 12-16. These groups will volunteer in area orphanages, clinics, schools and with local missionaries.

Jessica Stearns, an HU graduate counseling student and assistant for the JMC, organized all the mission trips this year. Stearns will advise a team of students in Guatemala who will volunteer with His Hands International Inc. Rebecca McIlwain, a sophomore psychology major from Albany, Ind., will lead six students for the Guatemala trip.

"I've always wanted to go on a missions trip," McIlwain said. "This is my first time leading an overseas mission trip. It's been more work than I thought it would be."

The Guatemala team will serve lunch to the community and volunteer at the local children's home and malnutrition center.

"In ministry, it's all about developing a sense of relationship and show that you genuinely care for the person you're going to serve," McIlwain said. "You have to be open to God working through you while you're there."

Mallory Jones, resident director for Baker and Roush halls, also feels exhilarated about advising a missions team to Haiti. Jones and her team will work with Mission of Hope, one of the largest missions organizations in Haiti.

"I have a big passion for travel, ministry and other cultures so it was an easy answer to give when I was asked if I wanted to lead the trip," she said. "I want to help students experience something that could impact their lives and change their worldviews."

The group traveling to Philadelphia will serve with the Center for Student Missions which is an organization that connects students wanting to volunteer with various projects around the community. The team also will assist with afterschool programs.

"I hope our team will be able to get out of our comfort zone and get a feel for inner-city life in the U.S.," said Doris Walker, student leader for the trip and a junior entrepreneurial small business management and business management double major from Kandern, Germany. "I want our team to see how the Philadelphia inner-city population experiences poverty and for them to experience Christ in that environment."

Huntington University is a comprehensive Christian college of the liberal arts offering graduate and undergraduate programs in more than 70 academic concentrations. U.S. News & World Report ranks Huntington among the best colleges in the Midwest, and Forbes.com has listed the university as one of America's Best Colleges. Additionally, Princeton Review has named the institution to its "Best in the Midwest" list. Founded in 1897 by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Huntington University is located on a contemporary, lakeside campus in northeast Indiana. The university is a member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU).

For text of this and all Huntington University news releases, visit www.huntington.edu/news.