SALT program launches this fall, kicks off with Healing Hands project

Janel Shoun | 

Quest Week freshmen continue tradition of service at Healing Hands, but add learning to service-learning equation.
This fall brings a number of “firsts” to Lipscomb – first apartment housing, record enrollment, first pharmacy students – but it also brings the continuation and enrichment of a long-standing tradition at Lipscomb: selfless service.

Beginning this year, all incoming freshmen will not only have plenty of opportunities to serve their fellow man, but will also be required to complete a set of service-learning goals connected to their academic fields of study in order to graduate.

To kick off the innovative SALT Program (Serving and Learning Together), brand new Lipscomb students offered their time and effort to pack supplies for Romanian orphans who have benefited from Lipscomb volunteer manpower for 17 years.

The freshmen who went to Healing Hands International during Quest Week, Aug. 19-24, were sorting clothes and packing shoes for orphans in Romania served by missionary Imogene McAnulty, a Lipscomb alumna and one of several missionaries who were the benefactors back in 1991 when a group of Lipscomb students first got together and shipped needed supplies to Eastern Europe, the marketing service project that spawned Healing Hands International.

Years before anyone used the phrase “service-learning” on campus, or had plans for The SALT Program, Lipscomb marketing professor Randy Steger gave his students a choice of two projects to complete for the class: either a marketing project for a local Nashville firm or a project to collect medical supplies for Eastern European nations.

The students quickly settled on the medical supplies project, said Craig Chumley, a 1993 Lipscomb graduate with a major in psychology and minors in marketing and management. The class spent all semester collecting supplies and working out the shipping details. In the end, $230,000 worth of medical supplies were shipped to Romania, Yugoslavia, Ukraine and Russia.

To see a report of the the original shipment in 1991 click here.

Lipscomb coverage of the first shipment to Eastern Europe, which sparked Healing Hands. Click here to see the 1991 story.
Imogene McAnulty and a Romanian doctor. McAnulty's missions have benefitted from Lipscomb volunteer service for 17 years.
That marketing project spurred an entire organization, Healing Hands International, founded by Steger in 1994. Today, Healing Hands has shipped more than 300 shipments to 70 countries in need. The organization also provides water wells, agricultural programs and disaster relief among other aid.

Despite rapidly growing in scope and services over the years, Healing Hands has continued to ship clothing, shoes, and medical supplies to those same Romanian orphans the students helped in 1991. So when freshmen gathered on Aug. 21 to sort clothing for the latest shipment to missionary McAnulty, they were continuing a long-standing tradition of service to the eastern European region.

“We have a lot of kids in 11 different institutions,” said McAnulty, who has lived in Romania with her minister husband Dale for 17 years. “We buy food, powered milk, clothes, shoes, toiletries: the basics people need. Powered milk is the number one request we get. Some of these children just don’t get milk unless we can get it to them.”

McAnulty estimates that 1,500 children are assisted through her ministries. One year Healing Hands shipped over 8,000 Christmas boxes for Romanian orphans, she said.

Whereas in years past, Lipscomb students have happily offered their time and muscles to help those less in need, this year students and faculty will begin an intentional effort to focus such service efforts to complete specific learning goals, said Christin Shatzer, director of The SALT Program.

To see related stories on The SALT Program click here.

The “learning” part of “service-learning” at Healing Hands includes, “thinking about ways to solve community problems and thinking about how students’ course of study may provide community benefit. Service-learning projects such as this one are also great opportunities to meet other students and talk about the significance of the work,” Shatzer said.

The SALT Program requires students over the course of four years to complete two experiences from a variety of service-learning opportunities, including:

  • 3-5 hours of service connected to a wider academic, social or spiritual context;
  • Enrolling in a designated service-learning course;
  • Participating in either a mission trip, an internship with a service-learning focus, or a multi-disciplinary service-learning project with a team of other students.
Quest Week freshmen sort clothes bound for Romania.
With more than 650 freshman entering Lipscomb this fall, that means anywhere from 2,000 to 3,250 hours of service conducted in Middle Tennessee throughout the next school year through SALT. The university coordinates a citywide service day in the spring and several smaller service projects throughout the school year, giving students plenty of opportunity to achieve their service-learning goals.

Students who participated in service-learning during QuestWeek have had their first exposure to The SALT Program by volunteering at Healing Hands and taking time afterwards to reflect on the experience and how it relates to their college career.

The new freshmen seemed excited about the chance to focus on service during their college career, said Denton Gillen, a Lipscomb senior and the Quest Team leader who led the freshmen in their reflection time after the service. The Healing Hands experience was a good introduction to SALT and reinforced the fact that service is a focal point of Lipscomb, he said.

Other service-learning projects that will be held this fall through various classes include:
  • The creation of Web pages for local non-profits by students in the Web design course;
  • Journalism students interviewing local and international business and science experts to capture information and resources that will be used by Metro Nashville Public School teachers through a partnership with Open Source Teaching Project; and
  • Management students teaching life skills, job search skills and etiquette to disadvantaged teens.