By Michaelyn Ferrell

September 14, 2020

For more information, contact OBU’s news bureau at [email protected] or (870) 245-5208

ARKADELPHIA, Ark.—Ouachita Baptist University’s Elrod Center for Family and Community will host Tiger Serve Day on Saturday, Sept. 26, encouraging Ouachita students, faculty and staff to serve the Arkadelphia community even amid a global pandemic. The Elrod Center is continuing its semi-annual event as it has every fall for the past 23 years, with “Back to the Streets” as the theme for the 2020-2021 academic year.

“The idea of the Elrod Center is to highlight service,” said Ian Cosh, vice president for community and international relations. “We should have an impact on the community we’re a part of.”

Due to public health concerns, members of the Tiger Serve Day Leadership Team carefully formulated a plan to take precautions concerning COVID-19 that meet Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) and Ouachita’s Health Monitoring and Action Team (HMAT) guidelines, particularly by preventing close contact among students and those they will be serving.

In previous years, participants were assigned a project working closely with individuals. This year, the Elrod Center has organized a city-wide cleanup that gives students the opportunity to directly serve their city. With the theme “Back to the Streets,” project areas will include parks, school grounds and neighborhood trash pickup, as well as painting and lake cleanup.

“This will be a great opportunity for our students, faculty and staff to give back to the city that offers them so much,” said Judy Duvall, associate director of the Elrod Center.

The Tiger Serve Day Leadership Team began meeting six weeks before the event to begin preparations. The student group works tirelessly to publicize, recruit volunteers, create teams and prepare tools for the event. The team has also been working with Arkadelphia city officials to assemble jobs for volunteers. 

“It is so special to see the community being served so well,” said Ali Chapman, a senior business administration/management & marketing double major from Bentonville, Ark., and member of the Tiger Serve Day Leadership Team. “I look forward to it every single year because it warms my heart to see students serving with such humility.”

For more information on Tiger Serve Day, visit www.obu.edu/serve or call the Elrod Center at (870) 245-5320. Volunteers are encouraged to register by Friday, Sept. 18.