Virginia Episcopalian Magazine Winter 2013 Issue | Page 23

Every year, all members of the Campus Ministry Association holds a Hunger and
Homelessness Action Week before Thanksgiving. The focus of this week is to bring
awareness and action to hunger and homelessness both locally and globally. This
year, ARISE was able to host an event called Stop Hunger Now. Stop Hunger Now
is a mobile operation that can go wherever the volunteers are located. In our case,
the people of Stop Hunger Now came to George Mason University to help us to
package 10,156 meals consisting of rice, soy, dehydrated vegetables and a flavoring
mix including 21 essential vitamins and minerals. Each meal costs only 25 cents. The
food stores easily, has a shelf life of five years and transports quickly to countries
and families around the world. Over 50 volunteers came together from multiple faith
backgrounds and community organizations with one common goal: to feed hungry
children and families. Because of the passion many students share to be involved in
helping others, regardless of faith background, events like Stop Hunger Now have
the power to bring a community together in a mighty way. 

Members of the ecumenical ARISE Ministry at George Mason participate in a Stop Hunger
Now outreach project.

The Canterbury ministry at the University of Mary Washington fosters fellowship through a
group hike.

Canterbury Ministry,
University of Mary
Washington
The Rev. Brian Turner
While I’d love to have lots of deep,
theological discussions with the college
students who attend the Canterbury
Episcopal & Lutheran Campus Ministry
at the University of Mary Washington,
more often than not I find that they’re
not looking for that in our meetings.
Many are already taking religious studies
classes, or they spend so much of their
week in class discussions and working
on papers that when they come to
Canterbury they’re looking for a break
and a chance to spend quality time with
friends. So some of our bigger and more
special events have tended to be social
ones, such as our Welcome BBQ at the
beginning of the school year or our
annual Halloween Party.

This fall we decided to try a new
event: going on a hike together as a
group. While our ministry usually meets
at the Canterbury House or Christ
Lutheran Church, both very close to
campus, we decided it might be fun to go
on a hike on a trail about 10 minutes away
from campus followed by dinner out at
Chipotle. The Canterbury student leaders
made a Facebook event for the hike and
got many of our regulars and their friends
excited about coming. Unfortunately, on
the day we had scheduled for the event it
ended up raining and there were tornado
and flood warnings in the area, so we
had to cancel (although we still ended up
going to Chipotle). The following week,
we decided to try the hike again, and
seven students showed up to participate.
Despite the lower attendance than
expected, we had a great hike and a
fun experience enjoying the outdoors
together before returning to the church
for dinner.

Certainly college students are
very busy people, and I think many of
them liked the idea of going outdoors,
spending time in nature with friends,
and getting some exercise. Even
though we had to adjust our plans, it
was still a worthwhile event, and I’m
glad we were able to do it. I know we
will definitely try to make it happen
again come the spring. t

Winter 2013 / Virginia Episcopalian

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