The DECA chapter at LDSBC holds three service projects per year. During the past year, DECA has collected socks and blankets for the homeless, hosted a canned-food drive for the Utah Food Bank, and teamed up with the American Red Cross to install smoke alarms.
Twenty-five BC volunteers installed 86 smoke alarms in 29 houses.“It felt super amazing,” said Ryan Relitz, a DECA member. “I’m glad I participated in this event. The reactions and gratefulness these people had on their faces made me feel so happy.”
The American Red Cross coordinators were astonished to see the BC students taking initiative, working hard, and even speaking Spanish with the families that couldn’t talk in English. “They covered more ground than other groups did,” said LennaKay Griffin, a casework supervisor for the Red Cross. “They blew all the other volunteer groups out of the water.”
“Activities like these help the students get out of their comfort zones and outside the classroom,” said Brent Andrus, DECA club advisor at LDSBC. “This was a great opportunity for students to apply what they learn in every class: be more Christ-like.”
The educational experience, which is rooted in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, helps faculty and students make service something essential in their lives.