At the start of the semester, a group of students began organizing the Love Does in Action IWU club and since then the group has been making its way toward becoming an official club at IWU.
Anya Link, co-president of the club, said the group is partnering with the nonprofit organization, Love Does, to make service projects aimed at helping the Marion community.
“We are rallying students to think about what loving Marion looks like,” Link said. “I think often we think a lot about our own community and while that’s really beautiful, we wanted to start a club where we could think about ways to bridge the gap between the IWU and Marion community.”
Link said she started the club after connecting with a Love Does representative and learning more about their clubs spreading across other colleges in the U.S.
“I was super stoked when they first described what it entails because I think it’s just something that aligns with my heart and I would love to see IWU do more connecting with Marion’s community,” Link said.
Skylar Sable, a club leader, said that she hopes this club will shed a better light on IWU for the Marion community.
“I hope that they see IWU in a different light and just see truly where our hearts are,” Sable said.
Sable said that with the club being new, they are working on finding ideas on what the community needs.
“We want to ensure that we’re not just going out and doing something that the community doesn’t need,” Sable said. “We want to be intentional about asking what the community needs.”
Link said that since the club is not an official club yet, they are really trying to spread the word by putting up posters and through their Instagram page.
Eliyahna Brothers, a club member, said that she found out about the club through Link’s posters.
“Just everything they were talking about, like going out in the community and meeting people and providing resources for people that would better them was interesting to me,” she said.
Brothers said that students might be intimidated by the idea of having to commit to projects, but there is no pressure to have to participate in the service projects.
“We’re just coming in and learning how to love people better,” she said.
