While many organizations support giving back to their community, Elizabethtown College’s “Educate for Service” motto is different—it’s alive. 

“There’s so much value in service as a whole,” Director of the Center for Community and Civic Engagement (CCCE) Javiata Thompson said. “It’s part of who I am and my DNA, and it’s a part of this college’s DNA. It’s our motto and we live it and breathe it.” 

That “service DNA” is what drives events like Etown’s Spring Day of Service, held this year on Friday, March 31. Participants in the event, hosted in Thompson Gymnasium, will create school kits and tie-knot blankets to benefit children in the surrounding community and beyond. 

The tie-knot blankets benefit the James Biever Police-Community Alliance, which was formed in remembrance of James Biever, a former state police officer. The organization provides blankets to go in police cars for any incidents in which children would have to be transported in a police car. 

“It’s an amazing organization, you can just imagine a child walking out of an incident and having something clean to wrap up in,” Thompson said. “Our goal is to make 320 tie knot blankets to benefit the Northwest Regional [Elizabethtown] and Lebanon police departments.” 

The James Biever Police-Community Alliance was willing to donate the materials to make the blankets, and desperately needed hands and feet to tie the blankets together. Right now, the organization is doing small batches of blankets where they can. 

The goal of 320 blankets is ambitious. Nearly every 75 minute slot on March 31 must be filled for the goal to be reached, but Thompson believes the campus community will support it. 

“We’re at about 50% of our slots filled, and we have two more weeks to get the other half,” Thompson said. “We’ve extended invitations out into the campus community so people know it’s happening and they can volunteer.” 

CCCE is welcoming students, faculty and staff as well as alumni, parents and friends of the College. Thompson encouraged students to get their friends to sign up for a slot with them. 

“This year, we’re paired in teams of four, so you can come with clubs, groups, colleagues and friends,” she said. “We’ll throw a little music on in the background and have good conversation while doing something for the community.” 

The school kits will be given to Church World Service (CWS), The Joshua Group and Unto. The organizations will then distribute the kits to children in need. Unto is a global organization, but The Joshua Group and CWS operate out of Harrisburg and Lancaster, respectively. 

“I am so excited,” Thompson said. “I love when I walk into a space and see all the things finally happening. You plan so much behind the scenes, and notebooks are so hard to find at this time of year, but we made it happen and it’s helping others.” 

Thompson knows the value of helping others—it’s part of why she got her degree. Thompson was a nontraditional student, and went back to school after she had two children. She got her undergraduate degree in communications and then went to graduate school for her masters in emergency management. 

“I wanted to help the vulnerable population, and I thought I could help bridge the gap between communities we are trying to serve by showing folks the value of getting relationships and seeing what they need instead of what we think they need,” she said. 

While in grad school, Thompson was a graduate assistant with Millersville’s Experiential Learning and Career Management, and oversaw their “volunteer central.”

“It was all things volunteer, and it was supposed to be a pit stop while I was getting my degree,” Thompson said. “I found that I could get fulfillment helping people in higher education, and 10 years later I’m here doing volunteering, service learning organizations and connecting community involvement with the College.”

While her path wasn’t traditional, and had a lot of twists and turns, Thompson is happy to put her skills somewhere where they are needed. 

“I believe that those who have the ability to do should do and give back if they can afford it,” Thompson said. “This [Spring Day of Service] is really time.”

There’s benefit and joy for students volunteering in the Spring Day of Service, too.

“It gives students the ability to see staff and faculty outside of normal hierarchical grounds and connect with them in ways that can build bonds for a lifetime,” Thompson said. 

Students interested in registering for the Spring Day of Service can register online or by visiting @etowncivicengagement on Instagram.