Students across campus may be wondering why there are bins of coloring pages in the Baugher’s Student Center (BSC) and in dorms. They are for Color a Smile, which collects colored pages and distributes them once a month to senior citizens, troops overseas and anyone else who needs a smile.
The Color a Smile Campus Campaign at Elizabethtown College is sponsored by Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society (ALD) and will run until Friday, Nov. 11.
“It’s an easy, quick, inexpensive way to show other people that you care about them and to exemplify the ‘Educate for Service’ motto of the School,” president of ALD and sophomore Amy Lieberman said. “You know all you’re going to do is color a picture, but it’s going to have a big meaning when it goes out to someone.”
The coloring pages each have a positive saying and a picture to color. They also have lines to put the name and age of the person coloring. There are many different pages to choose from. Some examples include a picture of three, smiling pumpkins with the words “Enjoy the Colors of Fall” and a picture of a bumblebee in a field of flowers with the words “Bee Happy.”
“It’s something positive, and it doesn’t necessarily take that much time, so it’s easy and accessible and everyone can really do it,” secretary of ALD and sophomore Elizabeth Mazer said.
Mazer hopes for campus-wide participation. Vice president of ALD and junior Kelly Barnett thinks the campaign is off to a good start because the pick-up bin in the BSC was completely empty Tuesday, Sept. 27.
Every year, ALD has a service project, and the campaign is this year’s project. Lieberman called the campaign “an unconventional approach” because it is different from events like Into the Streets, which have been their projects in recent years.
When coloring pages, there are a few guidelines to follow. Students should avoid the date, glitter, colored pencils and get well wishes. The date should not be included because the pages are not sent on the same day they are finished, and glitter should be avoided because it makes a mess. Students should only use crayons or markers to color. The pages should not include get well wishes because not everyone who receives a colored page is sick.
To start the event, cabinet members of ALD placed pick-up bins full of blank coloring pages and drop-off bins for finished coloring pages in the dorm lobbies and in the BSC. They also had tables for the campaign in the BSC outside the Marketplace Sept. 27 and 28 during lunch. Thursday, Sept. 29, they will have a table set up outside the Jays Nest from 4 to 7 p.m.
Color a Smile will also be at the Midterm Meltdown sponsored by Students Working to Entertain Etown (S.W.E.E.T.) Wednesday, Oct. 19 in the BSC. ALD will have a table set up at the event from 6 to 8 p.m. to distribute and collect coloring pages. Students may also color pages at this table or on their own time.
“The purpose and the physical activity itself place into the theme of Midterm Meltdown, relaxing while coloring yet also giving back and helping toward a cause,” Mazer said.
For more information about the Etown campaign, email ALD at alphalambdadelta@etown.edu. For more information about the organization, Color a Smile, or to print out more coloring pages, visit colorasmile.org.
