HRC Students Spend Spring Break Serving with One More Child
Returning to a mainstay of pre-pandemic life, a group of Honors Residential College (HRC) students devoted their Spring Break to mission work. This year’s trip involved service alongside One More Child, an organization that exists to provide Christ-centered services to vulnerable children and struggling families both domestically and internationally, at their headquarters in Lakeland, Fla.
“The HRC was excited to renew our partnership with One More Child during Spring Break,” HRC Faculty Steward and Senior Lecturer in the Honors Program Jason Whitt, Ph.D., said. “We took an incredible team of thirteen students, and they worked tirelessly and joyfully at every task assigned them—no matter how dirty or mundane. Each day they amazed me with the faithfulness with which they approached the work and their desire to represent Christ in everything they did.”
Since 2017, the HRC has hosted a spring break mission trip to help extend the service happening within the walls of the HRC out into the world. This year’s program, led by Whitt, was the first one since the pandemic and provided support for One More Child through a variety of assignments.
“Our tasks ranged from physical jobs like landscaping or moving, to clerical ones like folding envelopes or sorting and counting donations,” University Scholar Kristen Nakamura said. “One of my favorite jobs was putting together six hundred sandwich bags filled with ribbons, stickers, and a paper handout. It was a small task in a very large quantity, but it was cool to know that in just a few weeks, the bags would travel to Uganda to teach children the Lord’s Prayer.”
Many students chose to participate in this mission trip because they were looking to deepen their faith and build community with other HRC residents.
“There were a lot of ways I could have spent my Spring Break, but I ultimately decided I wanted to spend the week creating more meaningful connections with my fellow HRC residents,” University Scholar Ayden Thoma said. “I would encourage anyone living in the HRC to take advantage of this service opportunity. It will deepen not only your relationships within the HRC but your faith as well.”
According to Nakamura, their week of service in Florida was a beautiful representation of Christian community.
“Throughout our time in Florida, each person pitched in with such joyfulness,” Nakamura said. “Our team really embodied Colossians 3:17 and lived out the charge to ‘do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.’ This trip gave me the opportunity to serve alongside my friends and mentors in a different, and rarer, context, and I’m so grateful to have partnered with them in this kingdom work.”
If you would like to learn more about how the HRC serves the Waco community and beyond, click here .