Name: Mrs. Michelle L. Stephens - Oklahoma Christian University

Love thyNEIGHBOROC students spend breakassisting storm victimsTo many students, Fall Break is a time torelax or make their first trip home since thebeginning of the school year to visit familyand friends.But for 120 OC students, faculty andstaff members, thebreak gave them theopportunity to serveothers.It also gave Houston-areaOC alumniDonna Sue Arnold(77) and Joyce Swanson(73), a memberof OC’s NationalAlumni Council, thechance to serve theiralma mater.“It was talked about for weeks afterwardthat these college kids had come downon a bus to help clean up,” Swanson said.“The community was surprised to see anorderly group of kids that came down justto help.”OC students started looking for waysto help those affected by HurricanesKatrina and Rita after seeing and hearingof the devastation left by the disasters. Inresponse to these inquiries, OC dean ofstudents Neil Arter began making contactwith alumni in the area.Arter contacted Arnold and beganworking out details for a trip to help withthe relief effort. Arnold, along with otherOC alumni, works closely with the ImpactHouston Church of Christ.“The Impact Church is set up and recognizedin Houston as a place that helpspeople,” Arnold said. “They’re recognizedby the Red Cross. A lot of churches allover the country were sending suppliesthere to aid in the relief effort.”Arnold helped put Arter in touch withImpact minister Wes Fikes, who organizedthe details of what the group would do andwhere it would work.She aided in the relief effort by workingat Impact to hand out supplies and helpdisplaced families.The group slept and ate lunch and dinnerat Impact, but did most of its workthrough the Thomas Boulevard Churchof Christ in PortArthur, Texas,located about anhour outside ofHouston.Elders of thechurch sentgroups out todifferent memberswho neededhelp. The groupscleaned up treesand debris andmoved them out to the road for city trucksto remove.Arnold contacted Swanson about helpingprovide meals forthe large group. Localrestaurants and other areachains donated food tohelp feed the group.Swanson also joinedthe group, which includedher son Stephen, in assistingthe cleanup effort onthe final day of the trip.Stephen is a sophomoreengineering major atOklahoma Christian.“That day was a lot offun,” Swanson said. “Itwas neat to see how hardthe kids were working.The only frustration they had was that theygot through early, so they just started to goto the neighbors’ yards.”The students also spent that Sundayin worship with the Thomas Boulevardcongregation, something Swanson believedto be just as uplifting as the physical workdone by the group“I think they understood that it was justas important that we spent that time withthem in worship, and that time encouragingthem, as it was going and cleaning up thedebris,” Swanson said.While at Oklahoma Christian, Swansonhelped Dr. Stafford North and also didservice projects and participated in theOutreach program. She now attends theFirst Colony Church of Christ in SugarLand, Texas.Arnold is thankful that she has the opportunityto work with a church that putsits focus on service, something instilled inher while at OC. Her daughter, Amanda,also attended Oklahoma Christian this year.“I appreciate Impact Church and theirwork with the inner city and the lessfortunate of the world, and the opportunitiestheir structure gives people to serve,”Arnold said. “I believe my life was impactedby being able to go to OklahomaChristian as opposed to astate school somewhere.I learned to be a servant,wherever I was and whateverI was doing.”Arnold also wants studentsto remember serviceis something they shouldstrive to do their entirelives.“I believe it’s importantthat, as students, kids starttaking advantage of theopportunity to serve,”Arnold said. “And thatthey follow that throughfor the rest of their livesand remember that Jesus called us to serveothers. It was good to see these studentsalready doing that.”by Tyler Hancock (07) VISION SPRING 2006 Transforming lives for Christian faith, leadership, and service.