The Love Movement, a community service club, hosted their third annual ‘Spread The Love’ event on Nov. 12 in the Baltimore Room in Stamp, bringing students wanting to lend a helping hand together for a common cause.
The movement’s main focus being hunger, poverty and homelessness, Spread The Love is an event where over 500 students came together with a goal to make 3,000 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for homeless shelters in the Baltimore and D.C. areas.
“I first got involved because a bunch of my friends were getting together and we figured we might as well use our time hanging out to do something to help people,” said Rebecca Arsham, senior family science major and president of the Love Movement.
Arsham said she loves being able to see the positive impact she is making on people, while at the same time being able to oversee, organize and participate in a social activity where she can meet new people.
The Love Movement is a cross between a community service group, a social action club and a party. Their events are fun for those involved while still making a concrete, positive impact on the local community.
Smiling faces and music playing in the background created a relaxed vibe for students to socialize as they spread peanut butter and jelly on burger buns. Throughout the day, about 50 volunteers came and went, Arsham said.
Co-sponsors provided donations for the event. The Helping Up Mission, one of the shelters participating in the event, donated the bread. Dining Services donated the tablecloths, hats, gloves and knifes, and most of the peanut butter and jelly came from donations from students.
“Hey everybody, we now have over 500 sandwiches!” Aaron Revere shouted only an hour into the four-hour long event.
Revere, an undecided sophomore, joined The Love Movement as a freshman and now sits on the committee as the Spread The Love coordinator. He delegated tasks of calling shelters, getting donations, delivering the sandwiches, and working with co-sponsors.
Donations went to: CCNV, Helping Up Mission and Central Union Mission. Co-sponsors for the event were: Active Minds At Marlyand, College Democrats, Community Roots, Dining Servies, English Undergrad Association, Her Campus, Jelly for the Belly, Phi Sigma Kappa, Roots and Shoots, SOUL and STEPP.
Meredith Good-Cohn, an undecided freshman, saw the club at the first look fair, went to a club meeting and decided to get involved to meet more people and stay involved in community service.
Others, like sophomore biology major William Glatz, participated because they were co-sponsoring the event. Glatz, the Community Service Chair for Phi Sigma Kappa brought along his fraternity brothers to help try and combat poverty.
The Love Movement hosts many events on campus; Spread The Love is their biggest event, hosted once a semester. However, the group sometimes chooses to focus on other issues, and sets up other committees to plan events around campus.
Find The Love was a campus wide scavenger hunt to help raise funds for Miriam’s House, a shelter located in DC that houses homeless women diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.
They also conduct campus trash pick-up, hospital and nursing home visits, a book club, and are currently planning a body image program.
“The most rewarding part is seeing people transform into being better leaders, really feeling like they are making an impact on other people and feeling proud of themselves,” Arsham said.
Ultimately, the event had three goals: to make sandwiches for local shelters, to entertain students and to promote further student participation in on-campus community service.
The Love Movement meets Mondays at 8 p.m. in 2207 in Jimenez if you are looking to get involved, help a good cause and meet new people.