So What Do We Do Now?
Thursday, June 3, 2010 at 08:06AM 
Doug CollinsSo what do we do now?
Looking at stacks and stacks of washcloths, soap, and other hygiene items, that was the question Doug Collins and Bruce Fowlkes had for each other.
Fowlkes, Chaplain at Eureka College, and Collins, a student from Albany, OR, found themselves with more donations for Church World Service Hygiene Kits than they knew what to do with, all collected on campus and the surrounding area. They needed a plan.
Eureka College sits nestled in Illinois farm country, a mix of old and new, with a piece of the Berlin Wall on display in a mid-campus peace garden. The Campus has a culture of service that has been cultivated by its leadership, all the way up to the top.
“Our response to Haiti started with a phone call from President David Arnold,” Fowlkes said, “and he asked me, ‘What can we do?’”
Fowlkes responded by opening up a campus-wide brainstorm session. Students, Faculty, and Staff gathered the next day and soon started getting organized. Bruce brought up the idea of collecting Church World Service Hygiene Kits and funds for Week of Compassion.
“The timing was perfect. We were just planning on a campus-wide response, but the local media outlets were looking for stories about the community’s response to the earthquake, and before I knew it, the local papers and television stations had the story. Civic organizations, churches, and people from all over our community were bringing in funds and hygiene kits. Banks throughout central Illinois became drop-off sites for Eureka’s kit drive, and the college even teamed up with the Midwest Food Bank to cover shipping costs for the kits.”
Fowlkes’ office was soon filled to the brim with supplies for kits. When the generosity of the campus and community got out of control, Collins, student assistant at the Chaplain’s office, improvised. He set up a system for tracking inventory, input the data into a spreadsheet, and organized efforts to put kits together.
“I was really amazing to me to see such a quick turnout,” Collins recalled. “Everyday we got huge masses of stuff. It was really touching to me to see contributions from the community. The spirit had a hand in it. When we needed help from the community and the school, we received it.”
“People want to do something,” Fowlkes affirmed. “Having a mechanism like Week of Compassion in place makes for amazing, satisfying ministry. People want to feel like they can do something real, tangible, and immediate. So often, the church moves so slowly that it’s heartening to see the church turn on a dime when it came to something like this.”
Eureka takes its commitment to “doing something” seriously. Pre-med students often organize international aid trips. Students are encouraged to gain practical experience in leadership through internships and mentoring programs, and the college annually raises more money for local causes than much larger state universities nearby. But the outpouring of aid for Haiti surpassed all expectations, even for those accustomed to the “Eureka Spirit.”
The Student Senate sponsors a yearly charity ball, and voted to donate the money collected for admission to Week of Compassion’s Haiti. In addition, students gathered early for the ball, set up assembly lines, and in their dresses, suits and ties, packed 260 more hygiene kits.
”It really got the students talking,” Collins said.
“We’re not a sleepy little school in a sleepy little town anymore,” Fowlkes quipped. “More so than at any other time, the campus felt like a congregation: all constituencies of the campus were participating.
“I felt like the pastor of a really happening place.”
