The Day of Service at Quincy University has become a staple in the community for over a decade. Students and faculty look forward to the day when they have the opportunity to go out into the community and help in many ways.

On Wednesday, Oct. 7, 1,009 students and faculty helped serve at 38 local organizations, a food drive, and on-campus projects. Each organization touches the lives of thousands of people every year. Whether the job was to help clean, paint, spend time with children, or our nation’s veterans, the impact all 1,009 people made was evident.

The Day of Service precedes fall break. However, before the hawks had time to relax, they had provided 4,036 hours of service to their community. The Independent Sector, a national nonprofit membership organization, values Illinois volunteers at $35.73 per hour, equaling an economic impact of $144,206.28 in one day.

The concept of the Day of Service can be unusual for some students, such as incoming freshmen and transfer students. QU is a Franciscan institution, and servant leadership is an integral part of that. For students who have never been a part of a school that does anything similar to that, it can bring uncertainty. Freshman Aubrey Eagen was unsure about the tradition when she first heard about it, but realized she was in for a pleasant surprise.

“Being a freshman, I did not know what it meant as the day of service. I just think it is really cool we are able to give back to the community who need help especially being a school with servant leadership. Obviously, it makes us feel good but it makes our community feel better,” Eagen said.

Typically during the Day of Service, everyone has matching shirts. Last year the color was brown, the previous year was yellow, and the year before that was white. This year, there were no matching shirts. Officials say that due to budgeting and an attempt to feed the number of students, the shirts could not be made.

However, there was another tradition on the day of service that did get renewed. That was the third annual car wash that raised money for St. Clare’s Pantry. The QU cheer and stunt team is the main figure of the car wash, and the community has gravitated towards the event.

“They’re genuinely excited for this day and to see them working hard for their campus community always makes me proud. We enjoy being a kind of a cornerstone of this event, and we are looking forwards to doing it for years to come,” Diane Shoemaker, cheer coach, said.

Members of the Quincy University community, as a collective on this day, donated food and bulk items to Catholic Charities, Horizons Food Pantry, Open Hands Pantry, The Salvation Army, and St. Clare’s Pantry at a critical time when shelves needed stocking for the winter months. The overall consensus of this year’s day of service was an overwhelming success.