Project Serve and Pack the Pack Bash

The University of Mobile will cancel classes for a day on Sept. 21 as students, faculty, staff and alumni volunteer at more than 50 locations in Mobile and Baldwin counties.

It’s the second annual Project Serve, a campus-wide service day that shows the school’s mission of “Changing Lives to Change the World” is more than an ideal – it’s a practical way to use skills, talents and education to make a difference in the community.

The event will begin at 7:30 a.m. in front of Weaver Hall with breakfast, a charge to serve by UMobile President Dr. Mark Foley and group photograph. Groups will leave campus at 8:30 a.m. to spread throughout the community to serve.

Last year more than 1,100 students, faculty, staff, alumni and university supporters volunteered. Generally, students volunteer with teams in their academic areas and many use the knowledge they have gained as university students in their service project.

Among the projects planned for the day are nursing students organizing physical activities at Westside Baseball Park, School of Music and School of Worship Leadership students singing with residents at more than 25 assisted living centers and nursing homes, social and behavioral sciences students visiting with clients at Alta Pointe, visual arts students painting a mural at a children’s worship theatre at Cottage Hill Baptist Church, alumni helping residents of Brennity at Daphne with art projects, Business office staff serving food at Ransom Café, French students teaching the language to children at Daphne Elementary School, humanities students bringing school supplies to the children’s classroom at USA Children’s and Women’s Hospital, College of Arts and Sciences mathematics students bringing food and supplies to the homeless, Rams athletic teams helping build several homes for Habitat for Humanity, School of Education students helping in classrooms at and much more.

The day-long event will conclude in the evening with “Pack the Pack Bash,” a school supply give-away and night of family fun from 6-8 p.m. at Hank Aaron Stadium. Admission is free and open to students and families from elementary schools in Chickasaw, Dauphin Island, Eight Mile, Grand Bay, Irvington, Mobile, Prichard and Wilmer. Sponsors include the Senior Bowl, the GoDaddy.com Bowl, and the Mobile Bay Bears.

Students from the School of Christian Ministries and sponsors will give away a free backpack full of school supplies to the first 1,200 elementary school students to attend.

Dr. Joe Savage, director of the UMobile Center for Leadership and executive dean of the School of Christian Ministries, said the event was organized “to invest in the lives of the Mobile-area children who live at or below the poverty level. One of things they need to succeed is school supplies, so we want to help meet that need.”

The Pack the Pack Bash will feature family-friendly activities including sports games, inflatables and more. Volunteers from the University of Mobile, local churches, and non-profit organizations will facilitate the event.

The Mobile Bay Bears are providing Hank Aaron Stadium for the event. The Pack the Pack Bash marks the first time the Mobile Bay Bears, GoDaddy.com, and Senior Bowl have joined together in a community service effort.

For more information about the University of Mobile, visit the website at  www.umobile.edu or call Enrollment Services at 1.800.WIN.RAMS or 251.442.2222.