A Time of Service at Emmanuel House

Setting up playset at Emmanuel House

Setting up a playset at Emmanuel House

Emmanuel House was honored once again by North Central College when over 60 people showed up to do yard work and set up a play ground at its Claim St. site on May 19th.

The VIDEO below captures a few moments from this time of service.

Responding to a call to service from the college’s new president, Dr. Troy Hammond, the group represented virtually every segment of the college community: students, professors, staff, administration, board of trustee members, alumni, and their families.

North Central College alum Bhavini Shah was among 60 volunteers at Emmanuel House

North Central College alum Bhavini Shah was among 60 volunteers.

From it’s original site, Bryan House, the Emmanuel House Community Development Corporation has grown to four sites (with more coming), plus its first headquarters, now under renovation.  We’ve been visited by U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (see video of visit) and established partnerships with many churches and community development organizations. And the college has been with us every step of the way: from comforting our family when we lost Bryan, to holding those first benefit concerts at The Union, to carrying on numerous fundraisers (several as assignments in entrepreneurship classes), to building a community vegetable garden (a S.I.F.E. project), to providing a stream of volunteers, publicity, good will, and more.  Special thanks to Ministry and Service for its leadership in so many of these endeavors.

And to president Hammond, who called for this time of service, and whose family—wife Sharlene, and children Adonay, Dillon, Karina and Gabrielle—all showed up.

Dr. Hammond’s first five months as North Central College’s president—only its 10th in 152 years—has been a whirlwind.  His formal inauguration took place May 17th, preceded a few days before by news that from over 46,500 people who have received a prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship since 1952, he joined a select group of just 60 specially honored for their career achievements.  That group includes U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, University of Chicago President Robert Zimmer, former Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, and Nobel Prize-winning chemist Thomas Cech. The Graduate Research Fellowship Program has helped produce 40 Nobel Laureates.

Watch the video below and you can also see him hauling trash and weeds out of Emmanuel House’s back yard!

  Watch a YouTube video of North Central College’s Inauguration Cornerstone Weekend.  The last 1:06 of this 3:00-minute video is on this service time at Emmanuel House, and features Dr. Hammond talking about how surprised he was that 60 people joined him and his family.  Then again, as he also says, there college has a powerful ethos of service.

Return to Emmanuel House main page or Social Change main page.

Music by Dan Guzman.  Go here for more of Dan’s music.

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One Response to A Time of Service at Emmanuel House

  1. Augustine Afullo says:

    Richard, it was a pleasure joining you on the service for a very worthy cause. it was indeed a great honor to have had president Troy grace the occasion, not as an observer, guest , but as the CONVENER and ACTIVE participant in the cleaning and clearing work. Kudos to both of you for according us that opportunity.

    Augustine Afullo

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