I Love My City is a Student Government Association (SGA) sponsored event here at Southern Nazarene University (SNU), reoccurring on a monthly basis, that features two to three service projects to get students involved in helping out our local community.
The projects featured so far are cleaning up a food pantry, visiting a local laundromat and handing out refreshments or paying for people’s laundry and making around 200 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the 405 on campus, then taking them to Downtown OKC to hand out among the homeless community. Being able to give back to the city we live in is such a rewarding thing, especially for someone like myself who has spent his whole life here.
It’s a wonderful feeling to go out into the city that has loved and raised me, and love it right back. When it comes to the laundromat, it’s amazing how something as mundane as doing laundry can be made so amazing when you go in with the motive to just love and create joy with people. I’ve experienced some of the best conversations and interactions of my life just chatting with strangers over laundry and getting to hear their stories.
Even the task of cleaning can be made fun when you realize that it’s for a greater purpose than just being clean, as it was with cleaning up the Tulakes Food Pantry so that people in need can come to the facilities and be in a clean and safe environment, speeding up the process of getting them the food they need. SNU senior Livvie Clowers talked about cleaning the pantry, saying, “I loved it; it was so awesome to get out and spend my time doing something that will actually help others rather than spending it in my room or something.”
When it comes to the sandwich project, every student I have seen involved has loved it. SNU freshman Brixton Schmitt said, “Being able to do something that has an effect on others’ lives is powerful, and using that for a positive effect such as helping out the homeless community is a wonderful thing. I thoroughly enjoyed getting involved and am looking forward to doing it again.”
I couldn’t agree with Schmitt more. From the times I have gone downtown and been with the homeless community, I have seen immeasurable amounts of joy in their faces when we show up to love on them and just talk with them, to be someone they can have a simple human interaction with. It’s a beautiful thing to see God at work in such ways.
If you want to get involved with I Love My City, be on the lookout on social media for advertising– follow the SNU Life page on Instagram and keep up with the snusga.com website for future dates.
(Photo by Gerson Repreza on Unsplash)