Where can you find a place to dance the night away, race in a costume relay, or throw a pie in the face of one of Furman’s Vice Presidents, all while raising thousands of dollars for a good cause? This weekend, Heller Service Corps hosted the PalaTHON, raising $18,386 for the Greenville Children’s Hospital. We heard stories from families at the hospital, we learned a dance from the morale team, we sweated through Zumba, and we dunked with the Furman Men’s basketball team. And all the while, we knew we were working toward a bigger purpose.
October is a busy month for Heller, as we are also celebrating our 50th Anniversary at this week’s Homecoming and planning for another upcoming event, Fall Fest. As one of the only schools with such a longstanding program dedicated to service, Heller is a testament to the value that Furman students, faculty, and the administration place on bettering the lives of those around us.
You may hear that as Furman students, we live in a “bubble,” only aware of what is happening on campus and in the lives of our peers, rather than the larger Greenville community. But, when students go meet with their “adopted grandparent” at the Woodlands Retirement Community, that bubble is broken and a unique bond is formed. When Furman’s Men of Distinction go into schools to mentor middle school boys, that bubble is broken and perspectives are changed. These are two stories of the hundreds you would hear if you spent any amount of time in the office with Mrs. Nancy Cooper, director of Heller Service Corps and known affectionately as, Miss Nancy.
Heller has chosen to celebrate our 50th Anniversary with 50,000 acts of kindness, logged on Heller’s website (www.furman.edu/heller). The current total is 34,566 and counting, so feel free to participate and log any acts of kindness you have performed this month! However, this project is so much more than the numbers. This project is about the greater commitment to service among our Furman community. Max Heller, the namesake of the Heller Service Corps, reminded us that “living is more than just existing, living is giving.” And that is what this project is all about.
I will leave you with this simple, yet profound challenge from Max Heller: “The question is, for the rest of your life…what will you do, and what can you do to make the world better?”