Local student Michael Lawson participates in Syrian relief project through Malone University (OH)

2013 Jul 3

Malone University students in the communication arts Senior Capstone class chose to raise money for aid in the Syrian crisis as their legacy project. Marcia Everett, Ph.D., professor of communication arts and director of The College Experience, said that the group worked through the Mennonite Central Committee through a variety of service projects including a rummage sale, odd jobs, and fundraising efforts, resulting in nearly $1900 raised to help Syrian refugees.

Recently, Dr. Everett was contacted by Marlin Yoder, donor relations associate for the Ohio/Western Pennsylvania/ Kentucky/Tennessee region for the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). Yoder thanked Everett for making Malone University students aware of service opportunities and doing justice by offering a group legacy gift to displaced Syrians.

Yoder also acknowledged Malone students that had volunteered at Belden Elementary school in an after school program. “I was pleased to see the Malone students there doing such good work in a most challenging environment,” he said.

He went on to thank the students for their “legacy gift of hope for those suffering in Syria.”

“I pray you may continue practicing your faith generously either individually or with others in a group. You have sent a tangible message of God’s love and compassion through milk powder and diapers, peace-building and trauma workshops, emergency food, and kits and blankets for Syrians or displaced Syrians.”

A local student participating in the relief projects included Michael Lawson from Beloit, Ohio 44609, who graduated in May with a bachelor's degree in communication arts.

According to Everett, “The annual legacy project in this course is one way of applying some of the things we study in the course about calling and vocation and care for our communities – both local and worldwide.”

Yoder, also a Malone University alumnus, explained, “I was transformed for life when I chose to serve for 27 months in a Bolivian indigenous village during the Vietnam War. Since then, MCC service terms have been a family choice for my wife and our two daughters to live and work again in Bolivia and Mexico for more than ten years.”

Malone University (Canton, Ohio), a Christian university for the arts, sciences, and professions in the liberal arts tradition, affiliated with the Evangelical Friends Church, awards both undergraduate and graduate degrees in more than 100 academic programs. Malone has been recognized by the prestigious Templeton Foundation as a leader in character development, as one of Northeast Ohio’s Top Workplaces by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and is ranked among the top colleges and universities in the Midwest under the category Regional Universities according to U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges 2013.